The Goblet of Souls
by Yellowpikmin88
Summary: The Triwizard Tournament is coming to Hogwarts but this year the school of witchcraft and wizardry will be receiving the most unlikely of competitors: The DWMA. Maka, Soul and the gang are in for an adventure unlike any other full of magic, mischief and danger.
1. The Skull in the Sky

**Chapter 1: The Skull in the Sky**

The night was still and silent in the cold highland grasslands of the United Kingdom. Far across a patch of marshes a large cave poked from the ground like a wart, gusts of wind drifting into the entrance as though the cave were breathing.

Deeper into the abyss a scream echoed from below followed by the crack of a rock being smashed against something before the faint sound of teeth tearing into meat could be heard as a gangly figure could be seen, squatting over whatever he was eating, a bloody stone laid at his side.

The figure's face became illuminated in the pale blue light of his victim's soul which showed off his large bulbous eyes, pointed ears and sharp teeth as he stopped chewing on the severed arm he was eating and instead picked up the soul. A slimy black tongue crept out to lick his dry lips before his mouth split into a wide gape so he could swallow the soul in one gulp, a pulse of light momentarily filling his stomach.

The killer tensed as the metallic clang of a blade sounded behind him. He peered over his shoulder to see the shadow of a teenage girl standing a few meters away from him, the light of the moon shining down on her from the entrance of his cave.

"I've finally tracked you down." The girl said in a calm tone, glaring at him with emerald green eyes as the figure fully turned around and hissed at her, baring his long fangs and sharp claws. "Sixty seven disappearances of men, women and children in these highlands, all because of you and your insatiable taste for human flesh. Of all the Kishin eggs I've hunted down you have to be the most sickening." The Kishin egg screeched as the girl raised her weapon; a gigantic scythe that stood a foot taller than her.

"Mad Cannibal, Sawney Bean. You've had your last meal. Your soul is mine!" The girl proclaimed as Bean began to scamper towards her, springing between the walls and ceiling of the cave. As he lunged at her the girl pole vaulted forward on her weapon, delivering a double kick to the cannibal's gut sending him flying back and before he could even hit the ground, she leaped after him and reeled back her blade before she deapitated Bean's hideous head and his body quickly vanished leaving behind his corrupted soul.

As the girl landed and looked back at her trophy, her weapon began to glow before it transformed into a boy of fourteen. He drooled as he grabbed hold of Bean's soul and opening a mouthful of shark like teeth lowered it into his mouth as he chewed and swallowed the soul sighing with relief when he'd done so.

"You weren't kidding about him, Maka, cause that soul wasn't the tastiest I've eaten." He said as Maka Albarn looked at her partner slightly confused.

"Didn't you tell me souls have no flavour though, Soul?" She asked as Soul Eater waggled his hand in a so-so fashion.

"Eh, kinda, it's the texture that makes them so delicious. This was sorta gamy."

"Well since he ate human meat as well as souls it's no surprise." Maka replied as she began to leave the cave. "I'll see if I can find you something yummier next time."

"I'll hold you too it." Soul grinned as he followed after. The pair sighed as they smelled the night air, grateful to be out of the rank cave. But as they were about to report back to Lord Death on a successful mission, a cacophony of screams sounded across the fields and as Maka squinted into the distance she could make out the growing blaze of a fire breaking out.

"What the hell is that?" Soul asked as he too stared at the distant flames.

"I don't know...but we're gonna find out." Maka said with a hardened gaze.

"Do we have to?" Soul groaned. "It took us six hours to find this bastard. Let's just leave it to the Fire Force."

"No Soul. If this is the work of a Kishin it's our duty to investigate. If we find any trouble we'll handle it if we can; if not we'll pull back and report it to Lord Death. I won't bite off more than I can chew if that's what you're worried about."

"Fine, let's go." Soul sighed, turning back into a scythe as they set off towards the fire. As they drew closer to the location they found themselves upon a giant campsite teaming with tents, many if not all of which had been set aflame.

" **Well at least we now know what caused the fire.** " Soul muttered as Maka looked in shock amongst the burning tents and screaming people fleeing in all directions. But as she scanned the area to make sense out of the madness something caught her eye. A few yards from the site Maka could see a group of six menacing figures. They were dressed in pitch black robes with tall pointed hoods and their faces were covered by gleaming silver masks. But what horrified Maka the most was what they were doing. Each of the figures were holding a long wooden stick in their hands and pointing them at a family they had circled. The man, his wife and their children were writhing on the ground and screaming whilst the figures chanted words Maka couldn't make sense of.

" **Just who are those KKK looking freak shows, Maka?** " Soul wondered. " **Some sorta cult maybe?** "

"I don't know. But it's clear they're up to no good." Maka glared at the distant figures as she advanced towards them. "Hold it right there!" The robed figures stopped chanting and faced the meister. One of them pointed the long stick in their hand at her before shouting.

"Avada kedavra!" Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Maka's soul perception instinctively activated, as she saw a ball of blazing green light shoot towards her from the man's stick. It glowed with a sinister and deadly energy; one she knew all too well.

' _Black magic._ ' Maka thought as she dived out of the way of the attack and countered as she lunged towards the figure and reeled her scythe back, transforming Soul into his glistening crescent form.

"WITCH HUNTER!" She cried before she sliced clean through her attacker who screamed in agony as his body turned pitch black and twisted into nothing leaving behind his soul, dark purple and pulsing. The other figures staggered back in shock as they stared at the girl with what appeared to be fear.

"Oh god no..." One whispered in disbelief.

"What's one of _them_ doing here?!" Another asked.

"Unless you all want to go the way of your friend, you'll start talking!" Maka snarled. "How did you come into contact with dark magic?! What were you doing to those people and why?! Answer me!"

" **Better do as she says, dudes. You won't like her when she's angry. Trust me.** " Soul grinned from his reflection which only frightened the figures further. But before any of them could speak a fowl voice sounded from nearby that echoed across the highlands.

" **MORSMORDRE!** " It bellowed as Maka and the robed people looked up to see a ball of pale green light shoot into the sky like a firework before it exploded into the image of gigantic skull, a thick hissing serpent slithering from its jaw.

Maka shivered as she felt a sudden wave of fear wash over her. Whatever that mark was, it was practically radiating with pure evil. And it seemed to be too much for the figures to take as they suddenly vanished into the air in plumes of black smoke. Maka looked around in confusion as she watched them disappear before cursing.

"Dammit. I let them get away."

" **Don't sweat it. We got one of their souls.** " Soul reassured.

"Yeah. Better turn this one into Lord Death to examine though. I've never seen anything like it." Maka said as she pocketed the soul of the figure who'd attacked her earlier.

" **Plus, whoever made that overgrown tattoo appear; sounded like they're in that direction.** " Soul pointed his blade north towards the forest.

"Then we'd best investigate while we still have a chance of catching him." Maka suggested as she headed off in direction of the voice.

She weaved between the burnt remains of the campsites as she searched for any nearby tainted souls. but as she ran someone suddenly crossed her path bringing her to a halt before she could bump into them.

"Hey watch it, would you?!" The stranger barked, revealed to a be a bespectacled boy with black hair and green eyes. Though the lad jumped when he noticed her weapon.

"I could say the same to you." Maka muttered as her eyes narrowed when she noticed something partially hidden beneath the boy's fringe. As she looked closer she saw that it was a scar, strangely in the shape of a lightning.

"...Where did you get that?" She murmured as the boy furiously sweeped his hair over the scar.

"None of your ruddy business. And I could ask the same about that." He pointed to Soul.

"Touché. And I found him in a music shop" Maka hummed much to the boy's growing confusion as she saw the his soul. It was similar to the one she'd claimed earlier, only it it was innocent so whoever he was she was safe to assume he wasn't her enemy. Still, there was something off about it that kept her curiosity.

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" She asked glancing at the giant skull. The lad stared at the ominous image before he winced in pain, bringing his hand to his temple.

"Hey. You ok?" Maka asked before her sixth sense tingled. Her gaze snapped to the right as she sensed another soul nearby; one wrought with hatred and malice. She squinted into the gloom to see the silhouette of a man looking at them from afar. He took a step toward them, prompting Maka to poise her weapon, but before he could advance any further more voices filled the air.

"Harry~! Where are ya?!"

"Harry~!" The new voices stopped the mysterious man as he turned back and began to run.

"Stop!" Maka was about to pursue him but the man had already vanished like the cultists from before. At that moment two more people arrived on the scene; a boy with red hair and a girl with brown hair.

"Who are you two?" Maka asked as the two teens approached the boy.

"His mates, what do you think?" The red haired boy snorted before he yelped at the sight of her scythe. "And watch it with that bloody thing! You'll poke an eye out, you muppet!"

"What was that now?" Maka grinned, a sign of her short fuse burning before the brown haired girl slapped the boy's shoulder.

"Might not be best to make her angry, Ronald." She scolded. "He's the only muppet here." She said to Maka.

"I know my fair share of them at home." The meister replied earning an amused smile from the girl.

"Well glad to see you two bonding over making fun of Ron." The bespectacled boy muttered. "But do either of you make anything of that?" He asked bringing focus once more back to the floating snake-tongued skull. The girl shivered from the sight of it but before she could answer a crowd of figures suddenly materialised around the group in a circle.

" **STUPEFY!** " They shouted as sparks of red light began to fly at them. Maka twirled Soul in hand as she deflected the attacks whilst the other children ducked to avoid them. But before she could counterattack...

"STOP! THAT'S MY SON!" The robed men stopped firing as another man with thinning red hair pushed his way to the centre. "Ron! Harry, Hermione, are you alright?!" He worried over the three before noticing Maka. "And who are..." His eyes widened when he saw her weapon to which Maka sighed irritably.

"Is it gonna be the same thing with each of you? We're just a meister and weapon for pete's sake." She said before she felt one of the men pointing their weapon at her back. She was about to wheel around to cut him down when an orderly voice stopped her.

"NO!" She looked to see a well-dressed man in a bowler hat and sporting a moustache approaching the group. "All of you stand down! She's one of the Reaper's." He said.

"'Reaper'? What's he mean by that." The boy now known as Harry asked his friends who shook their heads having no answer to give him. Maka was about to question the man when she heard a familiar voice.

" **Well now. This is an unexpected turn of events.** " She reached into her pocket and pulled out her contact mirror to see Lord Death staring back at her. " **Maka, hand me over to the man in the hat if you please**." Maka nodded, somewhat confused still by the situation as she gave the mirror to the man who's eyes widened when he saw the Shinigami.

" **I apologise, Sir. I never meant for my meister to stumble upon you like this, but I assure you she means no harm**."

"Could've fooled me." Ron muttered under his breath.

"I'm sorry, Lord Death. After we completed the mission we saw a fire breakout nearby. When we investigated we found a group of hooded figures torturing civilians." Maka explained.

"Death Eaters." Ron's Dad identified them fearfully as Maka continued.

"I ordered them to stop but they attacked me with black magic and their souls were evil so I killed one of them but the rest got away."

"She did what now?!" Ron asked aghast.

" **I know, Maka. I saw the whole thing from my mirror**." Lord Death replied. " **And not long afterwards that frightful thing appeared if I'm not mistaken**."

"It's the Dark Mark, Harry. It's _his_ mark." The girl know as Hermione explained to her friend.

"You mean Voldemort?" He asked. The other people visibly flinched at the mention of the name which puzzled Maka.

"Which is why we are here." The man in the hat spoke up as he approached the teens. "So which of you conjured it?" He demanded. "You've been discovered at the scene of a crime."

"Barty, they're just kids!" Ron's Dad argued.

"It wasn't them." Maka sided with him. "I sensed the soul of whoever cast it when it happened and I followed it to this spot; none of them match."

"Not only that, but there was a man following me before I ran into her." Harry added to the defence. "I didn't see his face but he was shabby and wearing a large coat."

The man in the hat seemed somewhat shaken by the description before one of his men spoke up.

"Mr Crouch, over here!" The group looked to see one of the man's associates peering behind a nearby bush and as they drew closer they saw a small creature curled up on the ground, moaning. It was small and pale with bat like ears, a round reddish nose and a patch of dark brown hair. It appeared to be female and was garbed in a tea towel of all things.

"A house elf?" Ron's Dad identified the creature.

"Winky?" Hermione called the elf by her name when Harry suddenly noticed something in her hand.

"My wand!" He said in surprise.

"Yours?" Mr Crouch's associate checked as he eyed Harry suspiciously. "Is that a confession to conjuring the mark."

"Amos, do you hear yourself?! Why would Harry Potter conjure the mark of You-Know-Who?!"

"Sorry, Arthur, caught up in the moment there." Amos apologised to Ron's Dad before turning back to Winky. "Elf, did you use Harry Potter's wand to conjur the Dark Mark." The elf shook with fear under the man's stern gaze.

"I...I is not doing it, Sir. I is not performing the dark arts, Sir."

"Let's see then, shall we?" Amos pulled out his own wand, muttered something and tapped it against Harry's which caused another Dark Mark to burst from the wand which the man quickly dispersed.

"So, we find you beneath the Dark Mark with this boy's wand in hand and the last spell used on it was the one to conjur the mark itself."

"That's impossible." Maka spoke up, reminding the group she was still here. "Her voice is high pitched and the one I heard was a man's voice."

"She's right." Hermione said in a thankful tone. "We heard it too. There's no way Winky could have conjured it when her voice clearly doesn't match."

"Something she could have easily accomplished with another spell. Disguise her voice and use another's wand to cover her tracks." Amos deducted. "Do you deny it, Elf?"

"Amos, this spell can only be performed by few people. It's old and forgotten magic. Where could she possibly have learned such a spell." Arthur debated.

"Where indeed?" Mr Crouch said as he glared at Amos. "Are you suggesting that I taught my servant such disgusting magic, Amos?"

"N-No, Sir, not at all." Amos said nervously.

"You know full well both Harry Potter's story and my blatant hatred for the Dark Arts and all who practice them, if the number of Death Eaters I've put away in Azkaban wasn't enough to show it."

"Sir, I'm not suggesting that you-"

"If you accuse my elf then you accuse me, Diggory!" Crouch barked before he turned to face Winky. "Though it is possible she could have learned it from anyone."

"She's not the culprit! She couldn't have stolen Harry's wand!" Hermione debated.

"And I know what I saw! This isn't the one you're looking for!" Maka insisted.

" **Maka**." The girl looked to see Mr Crouch handing her mirror back as Lord Death addressed her. " **As troubling and unfortunate as the situation is, it is not one for us to be involved in. I suggest you return to the academy; we have more pressing matters to attend to.** "

"But Sir-"

" **That's an order. Leave matters of magic to the Ministry.** " The Reaper commanded.

"Wait, magic? Ministry? What are you talking about?"

" **Like I said, it isn't a matter that concerns us. I'll explain when you get back.** " With that, the mirror flickered out leaving Maka alone with her thoughts. She clenched her teeth in frustration as she roughly pocketed the mirror and holstered Soul onto her back, who hadn't said a word through the whole ordeal; he had too many questions to choose from.

"Despite how the situation looks, your true culprit is long gone by now." She said to Crouch. "But if it cleans up matters quicker, always have a scapegoat handy, right?" She added in disgust before turning to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Sorry to cut our meeting short, but I'm needed back home. You three take care." She said as she began to walk away before Harry called out to her.

"Wait! I didn't get your name."

"Yes, who are you? Where are you from?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah and what's all this talk about sensing souls and this Lord Death bloke, whoever he is?" Ron questioned. The scythe meister looked over her shoulder before she answered.

"Maka Albarn. One Star scythe meister of the DWMA." She stated before carrying on leaving the group behind.

"She's from where now?" Harry questioned.

"DWMA? Why does that sound annoyingly familiar?" Hermione scratched her head. "I know I've heard it once before."

"What during one of your bouts of 'light' reading?" Ron wagered with a smirk.

"No. It was a long time ago. Before I even found out I was a witch." The boys looked at her as she struggled to remember. "Oh, it'll come to me soon, I'm sure."

"No doubt about that, knowing you."

Meanwhile, Maka was also wracking her brain. Just what had she stumbled upon. Were those people witches? She'd never heard of male witches before and more importantly why had Lord Death been so calm about it? Witches were their enemies, weren't they? Whatever the case she hoped the Reaper would be true to his word of explaining the situation when she retuned.

" **The gang's never gonna believe this when we get back.** " Soul said breaking the silence.

"That's putting it mildly. Also what kept you so quiet?" Maka asked back.

" **Considering the mere sight of me put the fear in them I didn't wanna freak 'em out any further by talking**."

"Good point." Maka agreed as she looked up at the snickering moon. ' _Whoever they were I know this much; that mark was an omen if ever I've seen one. Worse than a moon with red teeth._ '

XXX

The return flight to Death City was a long one back from the British Isles but eventually Maka and Soul were looking upon their desert-based home of Death City.

"Home sweat home, right?" Soul grinned wiping his brow.

"Gross!" Maka laughed as they made their way to their apartment and upon opening the door Soul was greeted with two voluptuous breasts smothering his face.

"Welcome home, you two~!" Blair greeted the pair in her scantily dressed human form as Soul fell backwards in a faint, nose bleeding like a fountain as Maka slapped her forehead in frustration.

"Do you have to smother him every time, Blair? One of these days you're gonna give him anaemia."

"Oh you know he loves it." Blair laughed.

"Dream on, succubus." Soul croaked as he picked himself up, plugging his nose with some tissue from his pocket.

The team had barely unpacked when the mirror rang. Upon answering they were greeted with a head of familiar lavender pink hair.

"Crona!" Maka beamed at the reflection of her closest friend next to Soul who returned her smile with a small shy one of his own.

"H-Hi, Maka."

"Hey, good to see you, man." Soul grinned at the scrawny meister.

"Welcome back." He said before a black blob with ping-pong eyes burst from his back.

"Hi there, Mini-Ragnarok." Maka smirked at the sight of the demon sword who glared back at her.

"Damn. You're back a hundred years too early, cow! What's it gonna take to kill you?!" Maka rolled her eyes at the demon's insult, making a mental note to chop him later.

"You'd need a dragon to take me down." She claimed before turning her attention back to Crona. "So how are you, Crona? Anything happen while we were gone?"

"Actually, yes." Crona answered. "Professor Stein wanted me to let you know, Lord Death has something important to tell us. Black Star and Kid will be there too along with the girls."

"Aww come on! We only just got back and already Lord Death's calling us in again?!" Soul said exasperated.

"Sorry, I-I know you both must be pretty tired, I just thought you should know." Crona rubbed his arm.

"It's ok, Crona, thanks for letting us know. We'll see you there." Maka thanked him before hanging up.

"I can't believe this. That bonebag's gonna run us ragged." Soul groaned.

"Well at least I can get some answers about that mess we ran into last night." Maka suggested as the pair made their way off to the academy to meet up with the rest of their teammates.

XXX

Upon arriving at the Death Room, Maka and Soul were greeted by their friends; besides Crona, the arrogant assassin Black Star and his partner Tsubaki Nakatsukasa were there too along with Lord Death's son, Death the Kid accompanied by Liz and Patty Thompson. Not only that, their two main teachers were present as well: Franken Stein and Marie Mjolnir.

"Maka, Soul, welcome back." The latter greeted her students. "The mission went well I hope."

"Fish in a barrel." Soul grinned. "Or cannibal in a cave rather."

"Honestly finding him was the hard part. Taking him down was easy." Maka huffed blowing one her bangs out of her face. "Something more rewarding would be nice next time."

"Hee-hee, you sound like Black Star, Maka." Patty giggled at the busybody girl's sudden attitude which made her jolt, realising she did indeed sound cocky.

"What's gotten into me?" She groaned as the aforementioned assassin laughed boastfully.

"Glad to see you're finally following in my footsteps, Maka. Just ditch the coat and spike up your hair and I _might_ just consider making you my protégé." He said slinging an arm around her shoulder which only earned him a book to the face.

"As if you could teach me anything, Black Star other than how to be loud and obnoxious." She said.

"At least I can still wield my own wavelength!" Black Star said back.

"Now, now, let's not start any fights. We need to get down to business." Lord Death spoke up. "You're probably wondering why I've called you all here." The group nodded. "Well, kids, I've been contacted by a certain school. Have any of you heard of Hogwarts?" the meisters and weapons looked at each other with puzzled stares and shrugs except for Crona whose eyes widened in shock.

"Ring any bells, Crona?" The reaper queried as the demon swordsman instinctively clutched his arm as he often did when nervous.

"I did hear about, o-once. B-Back when I lived with Lady M-Medusa." He began to stutter. "I-It's a...a school for witches and wizards." The others gasped in disbelief.

"A school of witches?! How can something like that exist?!" Tsubaki questioned.

"Where is it?! I'll raise it to the ground and put all their heads on pikes!" Black Star snarled.

"And what do you mean by wizards, Crona? I thought Eibon was the only wizard." Kid asked his friend. "But like Tsubaki said, how can such a school exist? Why have you never told me about it, Father?" He turned to Lord Death who raised his large white hand.

"There's no cause for alarm, kids." he said calmly. "Though it may sound hard to believe, Hogwarts is actually inhabited by good witches and wizards. Unlike the ones we deal with who wield their magic for death and destruction and primarily consist of witches, these ones have built a respectable and diplomatic society equal parts witch and wizard."

"From what we know, it's located in Britain and has existed for almost as long as the DWMA." Stein explained.

"And the headmaster of the school is a close friend of Lord Death's. His name is Albus Dumbledore." Marie added.

"But why have we never heard of it?" Maka asked before she remembered. "Wait. Those people I met. They were witches and wizards weren't they?"

"That's right, Maka." Lord Death confirmed. "And their government is known as The Ministry of Magic. The entire society is shrouded from the naked eye in a pocket space, not unlike the witch realm we know of. In fact many witches and wizards there hale from clans inhabiting the Grand Witche's realm which is why there are so many similarities between the two."

"But why would this magic school contact us? Wouldn't they be scared of us being witch hunters and all?" Liz queried.

"Well you see, Hogwarts has invited us to participate in a legendary event: the Triwizard Tournament. A gathering of several schools where each one enters a champion into a series of tasks to compete for a grand prize. Dumbledore invited us as he believes it would be a good opportunity for our two societies to learn to coexist together. After all, it would be quite the problem if any of you accidentally hunted down one of their innocent citizens mistaking them for one of our wicked witches."

"A tournament?" Black Star murmured before a huge grin spread across his face and he leapt up punching the air. "YAHOOOO! You mean me and Tsubkai get to show how awesome we are...in front of an _actual live audience?!"_

"That's about the size of it." Lord Death replied.

"And you're sure we can trust these people?" Kid asked sceptically. "This could be a trap."

"I assure you, Kid, these folk are good people. Besides it's not like good witches and wizards are impossible. You've met Eibon and let's not forget Kim and little Angela." Marie reassured. Kid digested her words for a moment before he nodded understandingly.

"So then." Lord Death stated to the group. "Are you in or out? I'm not ordering any of you to go and neither is Dumbledore. This is your decision and your decision alone." The others looked at each other before turning back to Lord Death to give their answers.

"Well I'm sure as hell going." Black Star said gesturing his thumb to himself.

"Then of course he's gonna need me there for him." Tsubaki added before the two smiled at each other.

"You can count me in Father." Kid said calmly with his arms folded.

" **Us too** " said Liz and Patty. Soul turned his head to his meister. "Well Maka? Are we going?" he asked. She turned her head to him and gave him a thumbs up.

"Damn right we are." She said. "If there really is a school full of good witches and wizards, then I definitely want to meet them." Soul stared for a few seconds before flashing her a grin, revealing his sharp teeth.

"Well if everyone's going then so am I." Crona piped up.

"Hey! Don't I get to decide as well?" Ragnarok barked as he popped out of Crona's back.

"Well Crona's the meister." Maka stated. "And it's not like you can just walk away."

"I never asked for your opinion, cow!" Ragnarok snapped.

"Then it's settled." Lord Death said clapping his hands together. "Marie and Stein will be accompanying you to the school. After all someone's gonna have to watch you for the next year."

" **A YEAR?!** " The children shouted in disbelief.

"That's right" Lord Death said. "The tournament roughly covers a year at Hogwarts so you'll be staying there for a year as well."

"But Sir" Maka protested. "We can't miss a full year of school!"

"Don't worry, Maka." Stein said as he put his hand on her shoulder. "Marie and I won't just be there to watch you. We'll continue our lessons at Hogwarts."

"Splendid!" said Lord Death. "Now off you go and pack your things. I'll also supply you each with some wizard money. There are quite a few attractions surrounding Hogwarts where you can spend a shiny penny or two, or as they say 'a sickle or galleon.' I want you all back here in two weeks at 9:00 o clock sharp. See you then." With that the group of meisters, weapons and teachers left the room, leaving Lord Death alone with his thoughts. He quietly stared at his reflection and sighed.

"Well Albus. After all these years you'll finally get to see what I've achieved since we last met. This is going to be quite an amazing year"

XXX

"Dammit Soul! Hurry up already! The others are waiting for us!" Maka yelled for her weapon to finish packing. She stood in the doorway of their apartment along with Crona, holding a large suitcase in one hand. The morning of their departure had arrived and needless to say it had been rather drastic. Firstly they had had trouble choosing clothes for the journey. Secondly Maka had a rough time saying goodbye to her Dad on the phone. It was almost impossible to get him to hang up what with all the sobbing. And finally neither of them had eaten breakfast since they hadn't had time to restock from having only got back yesterday, so both were in a bad mood from the hunger. And to top all that off, they hadn't seen any sight of Blair since last night. It was strange she wasn't there to say goodbye considering they wouldn't be back for a year. It was true the cat could be a nuisance at times but she was still part of the family.

"I'm coming! I'm coming! Jeez!" Soul came into view also carrying a large suitcase.

"Good now let's go!" with that the two left the apartment and made their way back to the academy with Crona closely following them.

XXX

The group were now standing in the death room together. Black Star and Tsubaki had also arrived, as well as Marie and Stein, all of which had luggage of their own. Now they just had to wait for Kid Liz and Patty. A few seconds later the iron doors burst open revealing the three of them panting.

"I'm surprised we actually made it." Kid said as he tried to catch his breath.

"It's your own fault Kid!" Liz said with an annoyed tone. "You were taking forever to choose what clothes to wear. Seriously, what's so complicated about choosing between horizontal or vertical striped shirts?"

"Because they were both symmetrical and I only had room left for one shirt." Kid argued.

"Enough" Lord Death said. "Now that you're all here I can send you on your way."

He then turned around and faced his mirror, before breathing on the surface and drawing a strange symbol onto it. A few seconds later the mirror began to glow and ripple, before turning bright purple.

"Alrighty then." Lord death cheered as he stood aside. "In you go."

"But Lord Death, I thought mirrors could only be used to make calls" Patty said as she prodded at the mirror and watched it continue to ripple.

"Your right Patty." Lord death replied. "Normal mirrors here can only be used to make calls. My mirror on the other hand differs from all others. By drawing the right symbol I can turn my mirror into a portal. That's how you're going to get there and back again."

The group stared at the portal wondering what lay beyond the looking glass before Black Star charged towards it.

"YAHOO! Last one in's a Kishin egg!" he cheered. With that he dived through the portal and disappeared.

"Black Star, wait for me!" Tsubaki yelled as she chased after him and dived through as well.

"Well this is it." Stein said as he lit a cigarette and took a drag. "After you Marie."

"Thank you, Stein" she replied before walking through herself with Stein close behind.

"I'll see you soon Father. Come on, girls." Kid said after bowing to his father and stepping through with Liz and Patty.

Maka, Soul and Crona were the only ones left now.

"Let's go guys" she said before the three of them took a breath and stepped through the portal one by one.

 **To be continued...**

* * *

 **To all my followers, if any of you follow me on deviantart, you might know that this was my very first story. But since my writing has improved after so many years, I decided it was time for a revamp with fresh writing and an expanded story. Unlike the last one this version will follow more of the book as well as the movie.**

 **Please enjoy and review.**

 **Soul eater belongs to Atsushi Okubo**

 **Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling**


	2. Arrival

**Chapter 2: Arrival**

Almost instantly as she stepped through the mirror, Maka felt as though she had been shot from a cannon as she found herself being hurled through a swirling void of black and white. Her eye's stung from the brightness and she could barely move her arms which were pinned to her sides by the force of the pull until eventually an opening appeared at the end of the tunnel. The scythe meister braced herself as she flew through the opening and landed on her feet, the soft sound of grass beneath her boots. She rubbed her eyes, swaying on the spot from the dizzying effect of the journey.

"Where…are we?" As she looked up, Maka gasped as she saw a truly gigantic castle sitting at the top of a large hill. It looked to be about three times the size of the DWMA with towering spiers and turrets at almost every point.

"Whoa. Now _that's_ a castle." Soul stepped up beside her as he looked at the building in awe.

"I'd heard the stories, but I never would have imagined this." Crona gasped. "It makes our school look tiny."

"Ah, so is that the last of ya?" A gruff voice said from behind them. The trio turned around to see the rest of their friends and their teachers standing besides a replica of Lord Death's mirror. But they weren't alone; standing behind them was a tall burly man wearing a heavy coat that appeared to be made of fur. His face was almost completely hidden by a thick black beard and wild black hair. He was also very big for a man, standing about a foot higher than Lord Death and two feet higher than Stein.

"Yes, that's the last of them." Stein replied to the man.

"Great." The man said. "Now that that's sorted, we can make our way up to the castle."

"Excuse me?" Maka said to the man. "But who are you and where are we?"

"Rubeus Hagrid, my dear." The man said with a jolly smile. "I'm the gate keeper here at Hogwarts, and you lot happen to be in the grounds right next to me hut." Indeed, not far off from the man named Hagrid there was a large wooden hut, complete with a lush garden and not far off from his house a deep dark forest stood which looked to go on for miles.

"Your headmaster sent us a replica of this here mirror." Hagrid explained, patting its side. "He wouldn't say what it was for in the letter, but I think I understand now. Gotta say, I thought the ruddy thing was about to explode when it started glowing and spraying lighting like that."

"Yes, sorry about that, Hagrid." Stein said. "Lord Death probably should have mentioned what the purpose of the mirror was."

"Ah it's no problem." Hagrid replied as he waved the apology aside. "But anyway. There's no time for dilly-dallying, we need to get you lot to the great hall. Dinner will be starting soon in a couple of hours."

"Dinner?" Black Star questioned. "But it was only just the morning when we left a few seconds ago."

"We crossed a time zone Black Star" Kid said to him. "So it will be closer to night here than it was back home."

"Well that's annoying. I just woke up so I'm not about to go back to sleep." With that the group began to make their way up the grassy hill which lead to the enormous castle. As they made their way towards it, the DWMA students and teachers were staring at it in awe.

"WOWEE! IT'S GIGANTIC!" Patty Cheered throwing her hands in the air.

"Oh dear." Marie moaned as she put her hand to her head. "I found it difficult enough trying to find my way round the academy back home. How am I supposed to navigate a school that's twice as big without getting lost?"

"I could draw you map if you'd like" Hagrid suggested. "Although it probably won't do you much good, since the staircases like to change" He chortled.

"Oh, now I feel so much better." Marie groaned even more.

"So big guy…" Soul began. "Where exactly are we going be to be sleeping this year. I highly doubt your cabin has enough room for us all."

"Oh, don't worry that's been sorted." Hagrid said with another smile. It seemed he was quite the jolly type. "We cleared out and refurbished one of the spare towers near the Gryffindor one so that's where you'll all be staying for your time here." He pointed to said tower that was jutting out of the northwest side of the castle.

"So how many other schools are participating besides us, Sir?" Tsubaki asked.

"Oh, please just call me Hagrid, everybody does." Hagrid insisted. "And in answer to your question two more schools will be participating. One's the witch school Beauxbatons, and the other will be the wizard school Durmstrang. Plus you and Hogwarts, that makes four schools participating this year." Hagrid said.

"So there's nothing dangerous here we should worry about?"

"No, nothing, not a thing." Hagrid replied before he stroked his beard. "Except…best keep clear of the whomping willow over there, it's quite territorial." He nodded to a large gnarled tree that stood nearby that appeared to be moving on its own.

"And then there's the grindylows in the Black Lake; swim too far out and they might try to drown ya. Thankfully the giant squid's often close by to help if you're in trouble. And then there're the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest; they don't like trespassers, especially acromantulas."

"And…what are acromantulas?" Liz asked having grown rather fearful.

"Giant man-eating spiders." Hagrid replied to which Liz paled terribly. "Don't worry, I'm good friends with their Dad so you should be fine if you run into them."

"Sounds like a great deal of danger to me." Soul muttered.

"Well, students aren't allowed near any of those parts of the school anyway without supervision. But seeing as you lot aren't from around here…"

"We understand, Hagrid." Stein replied. "And I'm sure we'll be fine. If you know anything about our school, you'll know we can handle a little danger."

"That I do, Professor Stein, considering why you're here."

XXX

It wasn't long until the group reached the castle and upon entering, Hagrid soon lead them to a pair of large doors that stretched up to the ceiling.

"Well, here we are." The gatekeeper said as he clapped his hands together. "Now, I'll just go tell Dumbledore you've arrived and you can deliver your performance."

"I'm sorry, what performance?" Soul asked confused, glancing at his friends who looked just as clueless.

"You mean you weren't told?" Hagrid asked in disbelief. "Each foreign school has to give a short act in front of the Hogwarts students as a form of introduction."

"Well you'll have to give a few minutes to figure something out." Stein said.

"Alright then." Hagrid replied. "How does thirty minutes sound?"

"That'll be just fine thank you." Steins said. "You tell Dumbledore we're here and will give our introduction in half an hour." Hagrid nodded and then entered through the tall doors.

"So what do we do?" Kid said asked.

"I have an idea. It's just off the top of my head, but it should impress them enough." Stein began. "This school wants to see what we do and what we're capable of. So, I say we perform a few tricks with our weapon partners and finish off with a group resonance. How does that sound?"

"Awesome is what it sounds like!" Black Star grinned ecstatically. "I knew I'd get to perform in this whole shindig but for the first thing when we've gotten here? This is gonna be sweet!"

"Could I really deal with this though?" Crona asked somewhat doubtful. "I've never performed before. What would I even do? I'd probably just end up scaring them with Ragnarok."

"Hey shut up! I'll show you scary, pinky!" The aforementioned demon sword barked as he started pulling on his meister's cheeks like silly putty.

"Rah-nah-roth sto-ih!"

"That's enough of that now." Marie marched over to slap Ragnarok's hands away. "You behave yourself, young man." The demon rudely stuck his tongue out at her before slipping back into Crona.

"Ok, here's what we'll do. I'll go first with Marie in hand before signalling the rest of you." Stein started to explain the act. "You'll enter in pairs; first Kid and Black Star and then Maka and Crona. To round it off we'll come together in a resonance link. Everybody got that?" The others nodded as the professor stubbed out his cigarette.

"Then let's do this."

XXX

Concurrently on the other side however a magnificent main hall awaited, lined with long dining tables which seated dozens of children of varying ages, about a thousand in all: the students of Hogwarts. Additionally, there two other groups of students sitting amongst them; the students of the other attending schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. At the end of the hall sat another table, this one populated by a group of adult witches and wizards which Hagrid was currently walking toward as he approached an elderly wizard with golden glasses and a long white beard: The Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

As the gatekeeper went to inform him of the arrival of their final guests, he passed by three familiar faces sitting at one of the student tables: Harry, Ron and Hermione, the three mages Maka had met before turned their heads as they saw Hagrid pass them by. Ever since their encounter with Maka, the trio hadn't been able to get the name of her mysterious whereabouts off their minds. So, it came as quite a surprise to them when they learned that this 'DWMA' would be attending the recently announced Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"So then, are we supposed to believe muggles are participating in the tournament?" Ron questioned the oddness of the idea, given how Hogwarts had never been too careful with hiding themselves from the non-magic community.

"Well I wouldn't exactly say she's your everyday muggle, Ron." Harry replied. "I certainly never saw anyone running around Privet Drive with giant scythes."

"I agree. Whoever this school is, they're no ordinary school, even if it is a muggle one." Hermione concurred as she ran a hand through her mousy hair in frustration. "Why can I still not remember where I've heard of them before though? It's on the tip of my tongue."

"Well maybe seeing them dance around will refresh your memory." The girl looked up in annoyance at a pair of teenage twin boys with red hair. They were Ron's older brothers, Fred and George; well known class clowns and troublemakers at Hogwarts.

"Too right, George. Honestly I can't imagine sort of performance to expect from a school as off the maps as this one." Fred said before glancing at Dumbledore who'd begun to raise his hands. "Looks like we're about to find out."

"And now, students." Dumbledore began. "Let us welcome our final participants from across the pond. The gifted youngsters from Death Weapon Meister Academy and their teachers Professors Franken Stein and Marie Mjolnir." With the call of their names, the doors swung open to reveal Stein standing in the doorway alone with Marie standing beside him.

"Blimey. Is it me or does that guy have a giant screw in his head?" Seamus Finnegan murmured to his classmates who looked just as shocked by the Professor's scarred appearance as well as Marie's eyepatch.

"And I thought Mad-eye was war torn." Fred muttered as the students watched Stein and Marie raise their entwined hands before the latter's body began to glow a golden yellow and, in a flash, she transformed into a black hammer similar in appearance to a tonfa.

"What the- d-did you all just see that?!" another of Harry's friends, Neville Longbottom, spluttered in disbelief.

"She turned into a weapon?! What kind of muggle does that?!" Ron gaped in disbelief as Stein twisted his bolt a couple of times, sending out a disturbing sequence of clicks as he turned it, before he shifted into a stance and then bolted down the entryway between the tables. The onlookers watched in awe as he jumped and flipped through the air, delivering occasional thrusts at the air with Marie before slamming his weapon against the floor which released several shockwaves of electricity across the floor which shook beneath the student's feet.

As the houses watched his performance Hermione couldn't take her eyes off the scarred professor. His hair, his glasses, his eyes; they were so familiar, but as she saw him rise to his feet, an amused but friendly smile on his face, the pieces finally put themselves together as the image of a younger, less altered man wielding a black scythe floated into the Gryffindor's memory.

' _It's ok. The monster's gone now._ '

"That man." She murmured briefly turning her friends' attention away from Stein. "I remember now: I've met him before, when I was little."

"You mean he's the bloke you heard about the DWMA from long ago?" George asked. "I can't imagine how you'd forget about meeting a man with a bolt through his noggin."

"I don't think he had one back then. I was so small when it happened. My parents told me it was just a bad dream but part of me believed it was real. I'm sure of it."

"Hermione, what are you talking about? How do you know him?" Harry asked, but the girl didn't have time to answer as Stein lifted his hand and loudly snapped his fingers before what sounded like a jet engine was heard approaching the hall.

In a burst of pinkish purple light, Kid came gliding in on his jet-powered skateboard, 'Beelzebub', Liz and Patty both held within his hands, his pinkies on their triggers. His audience gasped as he flew around the great hall, firing off shots of pink energy from his guns before he shot towards Stein and leaned back allowing the professor to swing Marie into the underside of the board launching Kid back into air. The young reaper performed a corkscrew flip followed a 360* roll before he fired off another series of rounds as the dark cloudy ceiling of the hall causing a firework display of pink thunder and lightning. He gently landed his board on the ground, holstering his pistols before kicking Beelzebub up into his open hand which then absorbed the ride into his palm.

"Unbelievable. Just what kind of muggle is he?" Ron's younger sister, Ginny asked as Kid stood beside Stein. "With flying skills like that though I bet he'd be pretty good at Quidditch."

"You never know. Maybe we can convince him to join as a substitute." Fred proposed as the third member of the DWMA entered the hall; Black Star strode into the hall, glancing at either side of his audience before he reached for the hilt of the samurai sword strapped to his belt, drawing the long magnificent blade and holding it aloft as though he were a king. He smirked before holding up his other hand in an unusual gesture as wavy black markings began to cover his exposed skin until a black shape began to emerge from his shadow. It looked like a giant stick figure with hands shaped like pitchforks.

"They're getting more unbelievable with each one." Harry marvelled as Black Star began to duel the shadow creature. Pointed appendages sprouted from its body which the boy began to swing and climb between like a monkey until he reached the stick figure's head, balancing atop it on one foot. The shadow then began to rotate its bladed arms and spikes rapidly and the students gasped as Black Star backflipped off the creature's head and dove straight downward, weaving between the spinning blades and landing on his feet. With that the monster stopped moving and sank back into the boy's shadow as the markings vanished from his skin as he spread his arms wide in a standing bow to which the crowd cheered.

"Well whoever these muggles are they're certainly something else compared to the ones we're used to." Ron muttered. "And rather fond of the limelight too." He added as Black Star was now posing for the onlookers until Stein cleared his throat to get him to join him and Kid.

And the momentum showed no signs of slowing down as the crowd's attention was drawn back to entrance as Crona stepped into view, standing firm and tall, gripping his arm with his head bowed. He looked up towards Stein and Kid who nodded to him before he spread his arms and some of the students screamed when Ragnarok burst from his back in his large Black Dragon form. The demon sword screeched before he took off from the ground dragging Crona with him.

"Ok, I don't know what Dumbledore was thinking, but there's no way muggles can make dragon's pop out of their backs!" Ron watched as Crona did a loop-de-loop.

"Well unless it's some sort of machine. You know how muggles are with their fancy technology." Seamus suggested.

"Yeah that's gotta be it." Neville agreed. "The flying board, that other guy's weird sword and now this. The muggles must have advanced their technology so much Dumbledore decided they could handle knowing about us."

"An interesting theory, Neville, but I don't think that's the case." Hermione doubted as Crona continued to perform his air show when suddenly the pounding of boots against the stone floor sounded before one last figure came speeding into the great hall. Harry, Ron and Hermione gasped when they saw the familiar sandy pigtails, deep green eyes and red & black scythe.

"…It's her." Harry recognised Maka almost instantly as she twirled her weapon in hand before using the pole the propel herself up towards Crona who caught her by her hands as the two began to perform an acrobatic act of sorts as everyone watched in amazement.

"The one you three met at the Quidditch Cup?" George asked to which the trio nodded. "Well it's a small world after all, even if we did just learn it's bigger." Crona held Maka by her hips as he swooped down towards the group before letting her drop. She rolled over and over in the air before piercing the ground with her scythe and balancing on the pole whilst Crona hovered behind the others and with a mighty beat of Ragnarok's wings all of the floating candles lighting the hall were snuffed out, plunging it into darkness.

A few moments passed until each of the DWMA members became surrounded by a glowing outline which began to expand into a large blue bubble. A tendril of light then began to emerge from the surface of each bubble, joining them until all of the bubbles were connected. With that, they began to glow a brilliant white which caused Harry and the others to shield their eyes. The bubbles then fused into one enormous whole and a large shockwave of energy burst outward which blew everyone's hair back bathing the great hall in white light, until finally the bubble faded away and the candles relit themselves. There was a long pause until the students burst into an uproar of clapping, stamping and whistling. The DWMA students each bowed to them except for the blue haired boy who jumping up and down and cheering himself

"Yes. Thank you! Thank you! I'll be signing autographs later." He yelled above the applause. With their performance complete, Marie, Soul, Tsubaki, Liz and Patty changed back into their human forms; those besides Marie surprising the audience with the revelation, as Stein shook hands with Dumbledore before the headmaster himself addressed the crowd.

"Now," he began. "I understand that you all must have a lot of questions about our friends from the DWMA. Well I'm going to fill you in as best I can, so that you can get along with them more easily." The muttering students quieted.

"First of all, as I'm sure you can tell these children are no ordinary muggles. They are a group of highly trained warriors, learning under the guidance of the Grim Reaper himself: Lord Death. The boy you saw with the guns is his son Death the Kid." The students' heads turned to face the young reaper. He nodded to confirm.

"Secondly." Dumbledore went on. "There are two types of students at the academy. Weapons, who are muggles with the ability to transform into armaments. And meisters, who are the individuals that wield them. Some of which have the ability to sense the souls of others; it's like a sixth sense to them." The students stared at the group of misfits ever more curious.

"And finally." Dumbledore said. "The students are trained in order to hunt and consume demons and witches."

At the mention of 'witches' one of the students from the Slytherin table shouted, "Are you out of your mind?!"

"If you'll let me finish." Dumbledore said calmly. "They are only trained to hunt witches who use their magic for evil. You could say that these are the muggle equivalent to our Aurors."

"Aurors?" Maka whispered curiously.

"Dark wizard hunters." Stein translated.

"I understand this is a new experience for both us and them, but I believe including them in this tournament will present a great opportunity for both the magic and muggle worlds. Therefore, I ask you all to treat our foreign guests with respect and open mindedness as I'm certain they shall do the same for us."

With the introductions concluded, and the students seemingly calmed, Dumbledore directed Stein and Marie to their seats at the teacher's table whilst the DWMA gang were pointed a row of empty spaces at the Gryffindor table. As the weapons and meisters quietly sat down, Maka looked to her left when she heard someone calling her and her eyes widened when she saw Harry, Ron and Hermione looking back at her.

"You three." She said in surprise. Soul looked passed her side in equal shock.

"Long time no see." Harry greeted them. "Martha, was it?"

"Maka." The scythe meister corrected as she extended her hand. "I never asked you your names last time."

"Harry Potter." The Boy Who Lived replied. "And these are my friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger." He gestured to the others who wave back.

"Hold on. These are the ones you ran into on your mission?" Black Star asked Soul who nodded.

"Didn't expect to run into them again." He said.

"Yeah and we didn't expect a scythe to have been a bloke this whole time." Ron added to which Soul laughed.

"Well considering you already found me scary as a weapon I didn't wanna go and make you lot wet yourselves if I started talking."

"Nah, only spiders would get that reaction out of Ron." Fred joked, Ron throwing a half glare back. At the sight of the twins however Kid leapt to his feet.

"AMAZING!" The striped boy shouted, his eyes sparkling and his face beaming. "ABSOLUTE SYMMETRY!"

"Err…are you alright mate?" George asked.

"Sorry about him." Liz apologised said. "He's completely obsessed with symmetry."

"Well that's a little ironic, isn't it?" Fred asked.

"What do you mean?" Patty asked curiously.

"Well, I mean he loves symmetry, but he's got those stripes on the left side of his hair and not on the right." Fred pointed out. At the mention of the only blemish on his otherwise symmetrical body, Kid collapsed back into his and slammed his head on the table, pounding his fist against it repeatedly.

"Dammit! Dammit all, he's right!" he wailed. "Why do I have to have these god forsaken stripes? Liz! Patty! You deserve far better than a piece of asymmetrical scum like me!"

"Oh boy here we go." Liz sighed as she began to rub his back to try and cheer him up. Fred and George on the other hand seemed rather confused, but also slightly amused at the kid's sudden comical outburst.

"So, what are your names?" Ginny asked. "I'm Ron's sister, Ginny and those two clowns are our brothers."

" **Gred and Forge**." The twins introduced themselves.

"Get used to that from them." Ginny added, rolling her eyes. "To name a few others in our house, there's Neville, Seamus, Dean and Colin." She pointed out some of the students closest to the group. Liz smiled; these folks were certainly more approachable than the witches they were used to encountering.

"Well you already know Maka and Kid's names." She gestured to the two meisters. "I'm Liz Thompson and this is my sister Patty."

"Hi~!" the bubbly pistol waved with a grin.

"My name's Tsubaki Nakatsukasa." The kindly dark arm introduced herself.

"As for me, I'm the one and only Black Star! The unstoppable assassin who'll surpass the strength of the gods!" her partner boasted with his usual over-the-top charisma.

"Well if his strength's measured by his ego he's already surpassed 'em." Seamus muttered earning a laugh from the other meisters and weapons to which Black Star didn't take well.

"Soul Eater's the name." Soul spoke up.

"Is that a nickname?" Neville asked, surprised by it.

"Nope." The scythe replied simply.

"And this is Crona." Maka patted her shy friend's shoulder. "Ragnarok why don't you say hello too?" She added.

"Ragnarok? Who's that?" Ron asked.

" **Me!** " the students got their answer as the demon sword emerged from Crona's back making them jump. " **What's up, witches?** "

"Wait! You mean that thing's actually alive?!" Hermione yelped.

"THING?! Say that to my face, buck tooth!" Ragnarok snapped at her.

"Ragnarok, calm down, she didn't mean it." Maka scolded him.

"No, he's right, that was rude of me. I'm sorry, Ragnarok." Hermione apologised though the demon just folded his arms grumpily. "It's just this is all so much. We've never seen anyone like you."

"Well I suppose we are a bit surprising for you all." Kid agreed coolly.

"Understatement of the evening, mate." Fred muttered.

"Don't worry, we'll tell you all about us later. It looks like your headmaster has something else to say." Tsubaki pointed to Dumbledore.

The man himself turned and waved a hand to four people who were standing next to what appeared to be a tall golden pillar. They picked it up and carried it in front of a pedestal before setting it down. Maka's eyes widened as she recognised the man leading the four was none other than Barty Crouch. He also seemed quite surprised when their eyes met but the man simply nodded a greeting to Maka before he faced the audience.

"Now then." He began. "As you all know, the Triwizard Tournament is an event that is not to be taken lightly. Due to the dangerousness of the three challenges, no student under the age of seventeen is allowed to put their name fourth for the tournament." The Hogwarts students began to rant and rave.

"However, because the DWMA students have been trained for situations that are on the same level of danger as the challenges in this tournament, they will be the only under-age exceptions." This added detail only irked the students further.

"Come on, that's not fair and you damn well know it!" a Hufflepuff student said.

"What makes them so special anyway?" a Ravenclaw student protested.

" **THAT'S RUBBISH! THAT'S RUBBISH!** " Fred and George booed together. Having enough of the clamouring, Dumbledore stepped forward.

"Eager though you may be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," he began. "This age restriction is a measure all representatives believe is necessary, given the nature of the tasks and I believe those below the age will not be able to handle them." His blue eyes glinted with a mischievous spar. "And I will personally see to it that none try to get by the rules." He smirked.

He then raised his wand up to the tall object, before gently bringing his hand down. The golden shell suddenly melted away, to reveal a large stone goblet within. A cloud of blue flames appeared above the rim of goblet and flickered and licked at the air.

"The Goblet of Fire." Dumbledore stated. "Any student wishing to volunteer for the tournament must simply write their name on a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour by next week. But I must caution you all. If chosen, there's no turning back. From this moment, the Triwizard tournament has begun."

XXX

"You lot are so lucky do you know that?" Fred said to DWMA gang. After dinner- which had been unlike any other for the meisters and weapons when they first saw the never-ending feast- Stein and Marie, along with the children, had followed the Gryffindors to where the tower they would be staying in was located next door to theirs.

Though since the meisters and weapons were still wide awake, the Gryffindors decided to invite the foreigners into their common room for a chat; the first subject being the Weasley twins' frustration over the conditions of the tournament.

"I mean we're two years older than you, and yet you're the ones aloud to compete." George ranted.

"Correction" Black Star said raising a finger. "Tsubaki and Liz are year older than the rest of us; therefore, they're a year younger than you two."

"That's not the point!" Hermione said. "I can't understand why they would allow you to compete. I understand you're all trained…killers…" she struggled to get the last word out.

"Oooohhh" Ragnarok laughed as he leaned closer to Hermione. "Is the little witch afraid of us, knowing we hunt your kind down so weapons like me can eat your souls? I have to admit girly, you look particularly tasty." He then opened his mouth to reveal a set of square teeth and a long red tongue which then traced over them.

"Ragnarok stop it" Crona tried to say as strictly as he could. "Don't say things like that to her, it's not nice"

"It's okay Crona" Hermione replied. "I can tell he's just teasing me. We know bullies far worse than this."

"Worse than me?" Ragnarok asked doubtfully. "Name one"

"Draco Malfoy" Harry spoke up, which drew everyone's attention to him. "He's a Slytherin."

"That green house with the snake symbol?" Liz verified; the Gryffindors nodded. "A lot of them were giving us the stink eye when we arrived."

"Yeah they aren't exactly a friendly bunch." Neville said, revolted. "Many dark wizards came from that house and some of the students are even descendants of dark wizards."

"Yeah and Malfoy's family is one of the worst of them all." Ron spat. "They're filthy rich and they look down on the rest of us like we're peasants. They call themselves pure bloods." Maka grimaced at the mention of the word. Not a very pleasant description for a person who considers himself better than all others.

"Not only that." Hermione added. "But they also tend use a foul term to describe muggle-born wizards or witches. Like me: 'mud-blood'"

"That's disgusting" Kid said with a look of repulsion. "And if I may ask, what is a muggle? We've heard that word a lot since we got here."

"Well...you guys" Ron said. "Muggle's the term we use to describe people who can't use magic. It's not an insult like mud-blood though. Although I bet you five galleons that Malfoy's gonna make it an insult just for you guys."

"I don't think I wanna meet this guy." Soul said from one the couches he was lying on with his hands behind his head.

"If there's one thing I know about bullies" Stein began. "They're all bark and no bite. They use insults to taunt their victims. And if the victim barks back, that just gives the bully more chances to insult them. But on the inside, they're just spineless cowards who can't fight to save their own lives. You shouldn't take whatever this kid says about you seriously, especially you, Hermione."

The young witch smiled. From what the others had told her about Stein, he would have made a good defence against the dark arts teacher. Even if he wasn't a wizard. She wanted to find out if he really was the man from all those years ago. But they had only just got here; it would be better to choose her moment wisely to confirm her suspicions.

"But that's enough of that." Marie said as she stood up. "Now kids. We'll start our lessons again this Monday. So, you have Friday and the whole weekend to yourselves. Perhaps your new friends could give you a tour of the building?"

"We'd be happy to show them around" Hermione said eagerly.

"They could come with us to see Hagrid, since they've already met him." Harry suggested.

"We might even take them to visit Hogsmeade." Ron added.

"What's Hogsmeade?" Patty asked, looking up from the drawing she'd been doodling.

"Oh, you'll love it, Patty." George said. "It's the best little village around. They've got plenty of great shops, and even then, it's still a good place to take a walk."

"Sounds like fun." Soul said grinning widely.

"Well, goodnight everybody. You kids come join us when you're ready. Just don't stay up too late." Stein said as he and Marie began to leave through the portrait hole.

"Professor," Hermione asked. "There are still quite a few things I'd like to know."

"If you want to learn, come to one of our classes. I find that a much better way of teaching." Stein suggested with a smile. With that he a Marie left, and the door closed behind them.

 **To be continued…**

* * *

 **Sorry about that glitch wirh the first upload. Thank you to those who brought it up.**


	3. Scythes and Spells

**Finally, the next update to my revamp of Goblet of Souls! It's surprising how it can be more challenging to re-write a chapter than to start a new one.**

 **Not only that but I've been making some choices about my future (I've decided to pursue baking) and have been rather distracted from my writing in preparation for a course I'll be taking in August as well as organising a short holiday to London in a couple of weeks. But I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of writing again. Thanks for you patience everyone**

 **Please comment and fave.**

 **Soul Eater belongs to Atsushi Okubo**

 **Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling**

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 **Chapter 3: Scythes & Spells**

After Stein and Marie had left, the others quickly went back to chatting. Aside from their names and where they came from, they didn't know that much about each other. As the conversations continued, the Gryffindors learned a number of things about the DWMA gangs past: How Black Star was once a member of the Star Clan; How Liz and Patty had once been thieves' before Kid cleared their names and took them into his care as his weapon partners; How Crona had once been a tortured puppet of his own mother, only for his soul to be purified by Maka and brought into the light; How Ragnarok was actually Crona's blood, as well as his weapon. And of course, how Soul now contained traces of black blood in his body, because of an injury he received in a fight in the past (the weapon relucted to mention that the culprit was Crona).

"So you're seriously telling us, that you defeated this Asura guy by punching him in the face?" Ron asked with a mixture of shock and disbelief plastered on his face. Maka twisted her wrist in a so-so fashion.

"Not necessarily" She answered. "As I said, Asura was the physical incarnation of fear itself, and the only thing that can defeat fear is bravery. When I got back from saving Soul from the madness, I found the rest of my friends defeated. Knowing how strong they were, seeing them all lying there like that terrified me, but I knew there was still a chance with Soul at my side." Her partner grinned as she threw him a glance.

"But when he took a shot from Asura's weapon for me, that's when I really began to lose hope. If none of my friends or even my own weapon could stand up to him, what could I do? But my friends were actually still conscious and even though I stood alone, they still supported and believed in me, and that gave me the bravery I needed to destroy him." Maka sighed, almost growing horse from all the talking.

"It's been over a year since then and though Asura may be gone, the risk of another Kishin being born into the world will always be around. But as long as we stay together, we'll always have to be there to stop it."

"Unbelievable…" Ron said. It was astounding just how powerful these students were.

"You must really have it hard being on watch so that the world doesn't get swallowed by madness. And you said that it made witches more powerful because it fuelled their magic and lust for carnage?" Hermione asked.

The others nodded in reply.

"I can't even begin to imagine how powerful 'you-know-who' would get if he had the madness to fuel his magic."

"Who's 'you-know-who'?" Liz asked.

"What are talking about? Everyone knows who 'you-know-who' is" Neville said.

"Sorry. We haven't a clue who you're talking about" Soul said.

"You mean you've never heard of Voldemort?" Harry said, in shock. The rest of the Gryffindors shuddered at the mention of the name.

"Wait, I remember that name." Maka recalled. "You mentioned it the night we met, when that big skull appeared in the sky. Hermione said it was his mark." Harry nodded to confirm.

"Voldemort's known as one of the most evil and powerful (so he claims) wizards in existence. Almost everyone refuses to say his name out of fear because of it."

To Harry and everyone else's shock however, Black Star, Patty and Ragnarok started laughing.

"Pfffthahahaha!" Patty giggled loudly. "Why would people be scared of such a stupid name?"

"Yeah!" Black Star agreed, while laughing himself. "It sounds like a brand name for a foot ointment." He put on a spokesperson sounding voice. "Having trouble with verrucas? Got a wart that won't go away? Make them magically disappear with 'Voldemort'!" At this the rest of the DWMA students began snickering. Even Fred and George couldn't help chuckling a little.

"It's nothing to laugh about." Harry said annoyed at how dismissive the DWMA gang were Being. "He's not just a dark wizard. He's killed many witches, wizards and muggles over the years... including my parents." Patty and the others immediately stopped laughing.

"He killed your parents?" Tsubaki asked. "But why?"

"He didn't need a reason other than that they refused to submit to his rule." Harry said. "But it was me he really wanted. And when he tried to kill me my Mother shielded me and took the curse. Her sacrifice me so that when he tried again the curse backfired and supposedly killed him. But somehow he survived, though hardly living."

"How old were you?" Kid asked.

"Did you get out unharmed?" Liz also asked.

"I was just a baby; I don't even remember it. I didn't get out unharmed though." Harry then lifted the hair covering his forehead, to reveal a lightning bolt shaped scar. "That's what Voldemort left behind when he tried to kill me. Because I was able to survive a curse that no one else has, some people call me 'The boy who lived'." Harry said.

"So that's where you got it from." Maka murmured, now having her answer to the question she first asked him when they met, though she did feel saddened by it.

"It's also why he's so famous in the wizarding world." Fred added.

"WHAT?!" Ragnarok said. "You're popular cause of that little paper cut? We've survived far worse, check this out." Ragnarok said before pulling Crona's robe up over his head.

"RAGNAROK DON'T!" Crona protested, but the others could already see. Along Crona's chest was long horizontal scar, a faded black colour. The boy immediately pulled his robe back down before curling up into a ball and hiding his face.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry Maka! I know you hate seeing it!" He whimpered.

"Damn you, Ragnarok!" Maka struck the demon sword in the head before she pulled Crona into a comforting hug.

"What the hell was that about?" George asked, a little shocked from the sudden outburst.

"Let's just say it's not a battle scar he's fond remembering." Soul explained. Maka had now calmed Crona down, though he was gripping his arm mercilessly.

"I think that's enough of exchanging painful memories tonight." Maka suggested. "We should get some sleep guys. And then we can see what this castle is like tomorrow."

"Yeah." Black Star agreed as stretched. "I'm gonna hit the hay too." As Maka began to lift her suitcase, a small yelp came from inside it.

"What the heck?" Maka bent down to open the case, and as she did so, a flash of black leapt out of the case and landed on the carpet.

" **BLAIR?!** " The DWMA gang shouted in surprise. Sitting on the floor was a black cat, with golden eyes. It gently shook its head before looking at the others a little bashfully.

"Heh-heh….hi, everyone." It said.

"IT TALKS!" Ginny cried.

"But that's impossible. Unless she's an animagus." Hermione said as Blair trotted over to the suitcase and took out a large witch hat which she put on her head.

"You're close." She said to Hermione. "But you've got it backwards. I'm actually a magic cat that can turn into a human. Wanna see?"

There was puff of purple smoke, before standing in the cats place was a tall curvaceous woman. The Gryffindor boys' jaws dropped in shock. Noticing their amazement, Blair giggled and winked at them.

"Cute, huh?" she purred.

"Bloody hell" Ron said under his breath, his face beginning to turn red. This cat was certainly full of surprises. Blair giggled once more before changing back into a cat. No sooner had she done this, Maka then bent down and picked the cat up by the scruff of her neck.

"Blair? What the hell are you doing here?!" She asked angrily. "Were you sleeping in my suitcase or something before we left?"

"No, no." Blair replied waving her paws in defence. "You see, I was out for a walk and I decide to see what Lord Death was up to. So, I looked through the window and saw you all there talking to him about this tournament thingy. I didn't want to be all alone, so I hid inside your suitcase. I wasn't trying to cause trouble, honest I wasn't." Maka sighed before giving the cat a hug and petting her gently. She couldn't resist Blair when she was like this.

"You daft cat." She said "Don't ever do something crazy like that again. What if my case got lost?"

"I'm sorry; I just didn't want to be alone." Blair said as she nuzzled her face against Maka's shoulder. The rest of the DWMA gang smiled.

"Well looks like you're stuck here with us for the year." Soul said.

"Yep. But at least I'll have you to play with me, Soul" Blair said before turning back into a human and glomping Soul in a tight hug. Soul then proceeded to pass out from a nose bleed from getting his face unintentionally pushed against Blair's breasts.

"Oopsy." Blair said before giggling again.

"But Blair, I need you to keep a couple of promises if you're going to stay." Maka said.

"Firstly; you have to stay in your cat form all the time, except for when you're with us, and only us. Ok?" Blair raised a paw in salute. "Okeydokey."

"And secondly you have to stay in the common room only."

"That's not fair." Blair whined. "I hate being cooped up."

"I'm sorry Blair, but you don't know this place. You could get lost, or even hurt." Maka said.

"Actually, I've got an idea, Maka." Hermione spoke up.

She then stood from the couch and went up the stairs on the right to the girls' bedroom before returning moments later holding a fluffy ginger cat. Noticing Blair, it jumped out of Hermione's arms and trotted over to her. The two cats circled each other for a few moments before Blair gently nuzzled against the ginger cat's side, purring softly.

"If Blair's a real cat then that means she can understand other cats, right?" Blair nodded. "Well, this is my pet cat, Crookshanks and he knows this castle like the back of his paw. He can show Blair around so she won't get lost."

"That's a great idea Hermione." Maka said. "Plus, it looks like she's made a friend."

"I sure have." Blair replied. "He's so handsome."

"Hey now." Soul waved a finger at her in warning (having just woken up from his nosebleed). "You can make as many friends as you want, but Maka and I don't want you having kittens with this tomcat, ok?" Blair turned her nose up snootily.

"Huh! What kind of lady do you take me for Soul? I may like guys, but I'm not ready for a husband yet." The others laughed.

"Well goodnight all." Kid said. "I'm heading up."

"Me too." Crona said.

"Me three." Ron added. With that, the Gryffindor's and the DWMA gang settled down for the night.

XXX

After bidding the Gryffindors goodnight and retiring to their own common room next door (which had surprisingly been furnished with a theme akin to their home school) the DWMA gang awoke the next morning.

It began with Soul waking to Blair lying on top of him. Despite Soul yelling for her to stay out of the boy's room, Blair only said that the rules didn't apply to pets, mentioning that Harry owned a female owl named Hedwig; the magical cat had become friends with the snowy white bird as well as Crookshanks it seemed.

"Wait! The spread's just as big the night we arrived!" Ragnarok pointed out the large amounts of food split between the four houses when the gang headed for breakfast.

"You mean to say these kids eat like kings every meal of the day?!" Black Star gawked, his mouth watering. "Thank you for sending us here, Lord Death." He praised.

"Hey, you lot, over here!" The gang heard Ron's voice calling them as they spotted he along with the rest of the Gryffindors at the red and gold table waving them over. The meisters and weapons were about to go and join them when a cold voice reached them from the other side of the hall.

"I don't think you want to be sitting with the wrong sort." They looked back to see one of the students sitting at the green and silver table. He had slicked blonde hair and a permanent smirk. None of the DWMA gang liked the look of him.

"Excuse you?" Kid queried.

"Considering this is your first visit to a wizarding school and the purpose of it being that our two institutions form an understanding of each other, it only makes sense that you associate with the right crowd." The blond boy suggested.

"And who are you exactly?" Tsubaki asked coldly, though the guy didn't seem to catch her tone as he introduced himself.

"Draco Malfoy of Slytherine." The DWMA gang's faces shifted as they recognised his name.

' _So he's the guy._ ' Soul thought with disgust. ' _I can see why Harry and the others don't like him. I don't even need to sense souls to see how pompous this dude is._ '

"This house was built for only the purest of wizards and witches; it would be in your best interests to socialise with honourable students here." Malfoy continued to stroke his ego. Maka stared back at him before she gave him an innocent smile.

"You know what? You're right, Draco, thanks for the advice." She replied much to the shock of both her classmates and the Gryffindors. "Come on guys, follow me." She added before turning her back on the Slytherine table and carrying on towards the Gryffindors.

"Nice one." Soul grinned as he shared a high five with his partner.

"What the- didn't you hear what I just said?!" Malfoy spluttered from her backhanded response. The scythe meister looked back at him, still wearing her false smile.

"Yep. Your headmaster does want us to get along, so we don't want to get involved with the 'wrong sort'. Have a nice day." She smirked leaving the Slytherine at a loss for words.

"That, was, brilliant!" Ron beamed slapping Maka on the back as she sat down. "I haven't seen Malfoy gobsmacked like that since Hermione smacked his gob once." The bookish Gryffindor blushed slightly from his compliment.

"I'm surprised she didn't Maka chop him." Liz chuckled. "That's what she usually does to someone she doesn't like."

"And what's a Maka chop?" Fred asked curious.

"It's best you don't find out." Black Star cautioned. "Just know that it's painful."

"Well now I really want to see her do it." George grinned maliciously. "There's no shortage of Slytherines for you to choose from."

"Thanks, but I'd rather not go starting fights." Maka declined. "Though I'll gladly end them." She added under her breath.

"Ah there you all are." The group looked up to see Marie approaching them. "Good to see you all slept well."

"Same to you, Miss Marie." Kid smiled back politely. "So where shall you and Professor Stein be hosting lessons here?"

"Well you see, Kid, you'll only be receiving lessons with us exclusively three days a week." Marie explained. "You see, Stein and I have been informed by Dumbledore that since part of us being here is to establish an understanding of the wizarding world, he's arranged for you all to spend Mondays and Friday's with his students during their subjects."

"We're enrolling in their classes?" Soul asked. "But we can't do magic."

"Actually, a number of our subjects don't necessarily require the use of magic." Hermione spoke up. "With the exception of charms, transfiguration and defence against the dark arts, most of our subjects are practical or theoretical."

"Very good, Hermione, thank you." Marie smiled. "Though your main goal is to gain basic knowledge and understanding of their studies. What's more one of their subjects will be fused with our studies so that the Hogwarts students can in turn learn about our teachings as well. That way both parties benefit from it."

Maka was practically bouncing in her seat with excitement. She'd figured they'd be socialising with the mages during their stay; what was the point of being there if they were just gonna spend it all apart from them? But she never would have expected this. It was ecstatic to her that she'd be learning so much about this strange new world.

XXX

After Breakfast, Maka and the others followed their Gryffindor friends (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville and Seamus to be precise; Fred and George being a year above and Ginny a year below) to their first subject: Transfiguration. As the students arrived, the DWMA gang were surprised to see the room was empty save for a tabby cat sitting on the teacher's desk. It turned to face the children before it leapt from the desktop and as it did so it transformed into an elderly witch with its brown hair tied in a bun.

"Welcome, students of DWMA." She greeted their surprised faces. "My name is Professor Minerva McGonagall, Head of Gryffindor house and teacher of Transfiguration."

"She's a transforming cat!" Patty squeaked in amazement. "Is she Blair's grandmother?"

"I beg your pardon?" McGonagall asked confused.

"Sorry about that, Professor, it's their first time seeing an animagus." Harry explained. "Maka also owns a cat so you must have surprised Patty here."

"I see." The old witch replied cooly, though she hoped the bubbly pistol wouldn't be any trouble given her excitable demeanour. "I understand that you will be unable to perform in the magical aspects of my class. However, I trust that observing them and the books I've provided will suffice in your understanding."

"It's just what we need, Professor." Maka tittered when she saw the inviting tome laid before her. "I can't wait to get started."

"I always appreciate enthusiasm, Miss Albarn. Please, take a seat." McGonagall smiled back.

"Sheesh, at this rate she's gonna be teacher's pet here too." Black Star rolled his eyes.

"Nah, Hermione's already taken that position. Though if Maka's as big on books as she is she'll have competition." Ron chuckled earning a miffed glance from the young witch.

The class certainly won over Maka's favour, though her friends were just as amazed as McGonagall brought out a herd of rabbits which she then instructed the class to transform into oven mitts, demonstrating herself beforehand.

Though gang had expected Maka to be brimming with questions for the professor, they were surprised that Patty was the most curious, given her interest in animals. Her questions were mainly about what each animal could be turned into (especially giraffes) though some were a little disturbing as well, such as when she asked if the animals were still alive as objects or even if the spell itself killed them. Needless to say both Maka and Kid were embarrassed.

XXX

After transfiguration, the gang headed to the dungeons where the potions class was held.

"I think this one will be more fun since we'll get some hands on experience here." Black Star figured having found transfiguration somewhat boring having to sit a watch.

"Don't get too excited, Black Star. With a sourpuss like Professor Snape in charge it's anything but fun in this class." Seamus muttered.

"Oh? Is he strict like Professor McGonagall?" Liz queried.

"Oh no, as strict as McGonagall can be she knows how to be nice. Snape? He's just a jerk." Ron scoffed. "But then what do you expect from the head of Slytherine?"

"Oh joy." Soul groaned as they entered the classroom where they saw a pale-faced man with shoulder length black hair at the head of the room. But much to their surprise he wasn't alone.

" **Professor Stein?!** " The scarred meister, who had been talking to Snape when they walked in, though the latter seemed to be doing all he could to ignore him.

"Good morning, glad to see you didn't get lost." He said. "Severus, I'd like you to meet my pupils." Snape looked over the DWMA gang with an emotionless stare.

"I trust that they won't be...disruptive?" He said with an equally dull drone, the more perceptive students couldn't help but notice a hint of what they assumed was fear in his tone. Stein chuckled in response.

"Don't worry, they know better than to cause trouble. I'm quite excited about this class and would hate to see it disrupted. Right kids?" He added to the meisters and weapons who gulped knowing that when Stein was excited about something you did not want to ruin it for him.

"Uh, Dr Stein, is this the class Miss Marie said would be fusing our studies with Hogwarts'?" Maka asked to diffuse the tension.

"Actually no." Stein replied to their confusion. "That class will be coming last; this is just personal for me. Being a scientist, I find potions to be quite similar to chemistry only more advanced. I couldn't resist coming along with you."

"Though his eagerness to eviscerate the ingredients in preparation for the lesson, I find...somewhat disturbing." Snape commented grimly as the gang noticed the mounds of sliced up substances which included skin, insect parts and even some eyeballs.

Liz fainted.

"You're not alone in that regard, man." Soul muttered.

XXX

"I hope Stein doesn't let his old habits get the better of him here." Kid said with growing concern after the lesson had concluded. "I think your potions master might be afraid of him."

"Snape scared of someone?" Ron snickered at the thought. "That'll be a moment for the ages."

"Well count me out. I am never going near that gross class again." Liz grimaced. "It's bad enough seeing Stein chop things up, I don't need to see another guy boiling them in a cauldron."

"Wait, you mean Snape wasn't exaggerating?" Hermione asked.

"Oh no, Stein has a pretty 'passionate' curiosity for anatomy." Tsubaki grinned awkwardly.

"My Papa has the scars to prove it." Maka added.

"Moving on though, what's the next of your subjects?" Crona wondered as the Hogwarts students were leading the DWMA gang out of the castle and down to the school grounds for the afternoon.

"Care of Magical Creatures." Hermione stated.

"You have two classes with animals?!" Patty squealed.

"Yeah and you'll never guess who the teacher is." Harry smirked, though the others quickly figured out who he was implying when they arrived at a familiar looking cabin.

"No way. Who'd've thought?" Black Star grinned when they saw Hagrid standing around a set of open crates.

"Mornin' everyone!" He greeted the students. "And to our new friends from the DWMA welcome."

"Good to see you, Hagrid." Maka smiled. "So you're the gatekeeper _and_ a teacher?"

"Only the latter since las' year." Hagrid replied. "Always had a love for magical creatures of all kinds, no matter how they look. On that note, these are the critters we'll be feeding today." He said before gesturing to the crates.

The students looked in and most recoiled back in shock at what was in them, save for Patty, Black Star and Soul who stared in bewilderment. The crates were full of what looked like a mass of shelled headless lobsters with six legs and a strange protrusion at one end like a blowhole.

"Ugh, what _are_ those things?!" Liz paled.

"I call 'em blast-ended screwts. They're a new breed." Hagrid introduced the slimy arthropods. Jus' hatched this mornin' and I thought it'd be a good project for you to raise 'em."

"And why exactly would we do that?" Malfoy asked coldly. "What do they even do?" Hagrid appeared to be stumped by the question.

"I dunno. What do lizards do? Or flamingos? Or wallaroos? Do animals need a reason to exist?" Patty asked matter of factly which in turn stumped Malfoy; he didn't expect the bubbly daydreamer to have such a response. Hagrid smiled thankfully at her unintentional save.

"Well said, Patty. Not all the creatures of this world serve a purpose towards us, but they do deserve to be understood, which is the very purpose of this project." He said having regained his confidence.

"Today you'll be feedin' the little critters. Now since they're a new breed, it'll be a bit of an experiment to see what they like to eat, so take yer pick from the barrels of feed over there." He pointed to said barrels which were packed with a variety of gross looking things, one of which being liver.

"Nope! Nope-nope-nope, so much nope!" Liz backed out. "I spent the last our handling eyeballs and bug legs I am NOT handling liver as well!"

"Sorry, Big Sis is pretty squeamish." Patty giggled, her hands full of meat which she tried to bait the screwts with. A loud blast suddenly sounded from one of the crates and Seamus was sent flying back, his face slightly charred.

"Merlin's beard! That bloody thing just blew up in my face!" He yelped, somehow unharmed.

"Well it's in their name ain't it?" Hargrid replied. "They are known to blast off when agitated." It seemed he was losing the class again as the students appeared to be growing afraid of the screwts, though Patty was just as excited as ever.

"Ooh, that one's got a pointy tail." She stared at one.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, the males have stingers." Hargrid added causing many students to retract their hands from the crates. "As for the females, they've got these sucker things on their bellies. Probably for sucking blood."

"Oh yes, a very good reason for existing." Malfoy said sarcastically. "An animal that stings, blasts and bites you all at once. Sounds like a great pet to me."

"There's more to an animal than its deadliness, Malfoy." Hermione rebuked. "For example dragon blood is incredibly beneficial but you wouldn't want a pet dragon would you?"

"I would!" Black Star grinned. "Having your own dragon would be awesome! You know what I'm talkin' about, right Crona?" He smirked giving the swordsman a friendly nudge.

"R-Ragnarok's not a pet, Black Star." He replied, the aforementioned demon sword growling inside him from the assassin's comment.

XXX

After lunch, the gang finally reached last period: Defence against the Dark Arts. The teacher, Alastor 'Mad-eye' Moody was a rather bizarre man to say the least. He wore a long brown coat and carried a large staff in his right hand.

But what surprised the DWMA gang the most was that one of legs was mechanical and over his right eye was some sort of patch. But in the centre of it was an electric blue robotic eye which swivelled this way and that, so half the time his eyes were looking in opposite directions.

"I can see why Fred and George compared Stein to this guy." Soul muttered to his friends as Moody stood before the class.

"Alastor Moody." He began writing his name on a chalkboard. "Ex auror, Ministry malcontent and your new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. I'm here because Dumbledore asked me. End of story, goodbye, the end. Questions?" The class remained silent.

"Now. When it comes to studying the dark arts, I prefer a 'practical approach'." The cyborg looking man said huskily. "Which is why, Dumbledore has decided that this subject shall be that introduces you to the studies of our...aquaintances." His voice paused slightly. "So please welcome from the DWMA, Franken Stein and Marie Mjolnir."

The meister and weapon entered the room to join Moody at his desk, smiling at the class. The DWMA gang were surprised at first but the more they thought about it it made sense. Dumbledore had mentioned that aurora weren't so different from meisters in their jobs, just without weapons.

"Hello, everyone." Marie greeted the Hogwarts students. "I don't know how much any of you know about our school or what we aspire our students to be. But my partner and I are hear to show you the purpose we bring to society so you have nothing to fear of us."

"Thank you, Marie." Stein nodded to her. "Now let's start with a few questions, shall we? And don't be afraid to guess. Does anyone here know what a Kishin is?" A few hands considered raising, uncertain of their answers before one student, Lavender Brown spoke out.

"Is it your term for a dark wizard?"

"A good guess, Lavender, though you're on the right track." Stein answered. "Kishins are a form of demon born from someone who's fed on the souls of innocent people. Consuming an innocent soul gradually transforms the eater into a Kishin, starting in a premature state. We call them Kishin eggs, which are already quite dangerous on their own."

"Is that why you team up with people who can turn into weapons?" Another student, Dean Thomas asked.

"Correct. Our mission is to hunt Kishin eggs while they're still premature in order to prevent them from fully becoming a Kishin. If that were to happen, they would begin to spread madness throughout the world. Can anyone tell me what madness is?" Hermione raised her hand. "Yes, Hermione."

"I had heard from your students that it's a form of corruption that drives people insane pushing them to do terrible things. Even become Kishin eggs themselves."

"Excellent answer." Marie praised the Gryffindor before she turned to Moddy. "Alistor, would we be allowed to grant points to your students." The man glanced at her.

"I don't see why not."

"In that case, five points to Gryffindor." Hermione beamed. "Now that we've told you about our enemies, we'll now tell you about our method of fighting them. Maka, Soul please come forward." The two walked up to the front of the class. Knowing what to do, Soul shifted into his scythe form which Maka caught and twirled around her head causing the Hogwarts students to gasp in awe or fear.

"Since Kishin eggs are born through such dark methods, ordinary weapons aren't effective towards them." Stein explained. "As such, magical weapons are used to not only to slay Kishin eggs but to consume their souls as well. After ninety nine have been eaten the weapon must then eat the soul of a witch to transform into a death scythe which is a much more powerful form of weapon capable of battling full grown Kishins."

"Why a witch soul?" Ron asked somewhat nervously.

"A good question, Ron." Marie replied. "You see, weapons were actually created by a witch named Arachne who sacrificed the souls of her own people by fusing them into humans thus creating the breed itself. Which is why a witch soul elevates them to a higher power."

"But don't think we just go after any witch or wizard." Stein said reassuringly. "The witches in our society are a lot more malicious actively seeking out destruction and death, an unfortunate byproduct of how madness affects them called the 'pull of magic'."

"So, you mean any of us could end up like them if we were subjected to the madness?" Harry asked.

"Unfortunately. Which is why we must prevent the Kishin from every returning so that none of you or us are corrupted by its madness."

"Woul any of us be able to wield weapons like Soul?" Neville said curiously.

"It's a matter of compatibility." Stein stated. "You see, since these weapons are people, they and their meister's soul wavelengths must be in sync in order to fight togetehr. It's known as soul resonance." Maka demonstrated forming her wavelength around herself and morphing Soul into his witch hunter form.

"This allows the pair to access greater power when battling an enemy. Black Star, would you come up too please?" The assassin looked confused but followed as Stein continued.

"However, if an incompatible meister tries to wield the weapon." Maka grinned slyly as she dropped Soul into Black Star's hands causing him to collapse to the floor, his hands pinned beneath the scythe's weight.

"The weapon's wavelength rejects theirs." Some of the students laughed as Black Star muttered a number of colourful words under his breath. Leave it to Stein to make him look like a fool.

"That concludes our introduction to meister and weapon studies." Said Marie. "Thank you for your patience, AListor, you may begin your half of the lesson." Moody, who'd been leaning against the wall, grunted as he addressed the class.

"Leading on from Professor Stein's lecture, those who practice the dark arts are highly susceptible to madness. From what I've seen your quite behind on your study of curses. For example, who can tell me how many unforgivable ones there are in the world?"

"Th-Three sir." Hermione said, the tone her voice suggesting she was against discussing such a topic.

"And they are so named?" Moody asked back as he began to write on the board again.

"Because they're effects are unforgivable. And any use of one…"

"…would earn you a one-way ticket to Azkaban. Correct." Moody finished her answer.

"Now the ministry says that you're too young to see how these curse work. Well I say different! You need to know what you're up against! You need to be prepared! You need to find another place to put your gum besides the underside of your desk, Mr Finnegan!" Moody growled, despite the fact that he was facing the blackboard.

"No way! The old geezer can see through the back of his head?!" Soul murmured in surprise. Moody responded by wheeling round and throwing the chalk he was holding at Soul's head making him duck to avoid it.

"And I can hear across classrooms!" He yelled angrily, before turning his gaze away from the scythe and back to the class. "Now then, which curse shall we see first?" Several hands raised including Ron's and Hermione's. Moody chose the former.

"Weasley! Stand!" Ron jumped from the man's loudness as he shakily got to his feet before meeting Moody's gaze. He couldn't help but feel slightly creeped out by his magic eye.

"Come on give us a curse." Moody said.

"Well…my dad did tell me about one…" Ron began earning Moody's attention. "The imperious curse?"

"Oh yes, your Father would know all about that one. Gave the ministry a lot of trouble years back. Perhaps this will explain why."

He then turned away from Ron before heading over to a desk in the room and reaching into a jar before taking out a small spider, the sight of the bug visibly shaking Ron.

Moody then waved his wand over it to make it grow slightly larger (about the size of a black bird), before saying "Imperio!". With that he then began to move his wand in all directions, the scorpion then began to leap around the room wherever he pointed his wand, before it began to crawl up Liz's arm, making her scream.

"It's alright, they're completely harmless. Unless she bites you that is." Moody said before both he and the class began to laugh, though Marie looked rather concerned by his methods. The spider then jumped from Liz and then landed on Crona's back, making him stiffen and quake with fear. Moody continued to laugh before noticing Malfoy at the other end of the room.

"What are you laughing at?" he said quickly before making the scorpion land on Malfoy's face, making the others laugh harder.

"Ha-ha! Talented isn't she? What should I make her do next? Jump out the window?" With that the scorpion then jumped towards an open window but stopped, before crawling towards a jug of water.

"Drown herself?" Moody suggested. He then moved the scorpion away from the jug and back to his desk.

"Total control." He stated. "Years back, many witches and wizards were controlled by the imperious curse." Many knew which time he was implying.

"It was a real job for the Ministry when practically everyone they caught claimed they only did 'you-know-who's' biding under the control of this curse, but here's the rub: How do we sort out the liars? Anyone know?"

A few of the class raised their hands and much to Harry's surprise, Neville's was included, being labelled an underachiever in many subjects. He caught Moody's eye as the man looked him up and down.

"Your name's Longbottom isn't it?" He said. "Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for herbology.

"There's….the cruciatus curse." Neville said in a small voice.

"Correct! Correct! Come." Moody said, leading Neville over to the desk where the spider still sat. "Really nasty one: the torture curse. Crucio!"

Immediately the spider began to writhe in all directions. Had it a voice it would be screaming. As it did Neville's fists began to clench the desk, his knuckles white and eyes wide and horrified at the sight of the poor arachnid's suffering.

Hermione, having noticed Neville's state opened her mouth to shout out but someone beat her to the punch as a hand laid down on Moody's arm, the man looking to see Stein looking at him with a Stern gaze.

"I think they understand." He said calmly throwing a concerned glance at Neville who hadn't taken his eyes of the spider. Moody released it from the curse causing it to relax, as he picked it up and placed in front of Hermione.

"You've raised your hand for each question. Perhaps you would care to give us the last curse, Miss Granger?" He asked. Hermione appeared deathly afraid but reluctantly answered.

"Avada Kedavra." She whispered. Maka's eyes widened when she heard those words, her mind flashing back to the night of the Dark Mark.

"I know that curse." She thought out loud gaining everyone's attention.

"You don't say." Moody murmured. "And where exactly did you hear the worst curse ever conceived?" Maka's eyes shifted amongst the class, now somewhat regretful to have spoken out.

"I was on a mission and I ran into a group of masked wizards- Death Eaters I think they were called- and they were hurting a group of people, probably with that torture curse. I went to stop them and one of them said those words and shot a ball of green light at me. I managed to dodge it though."

"And you were very wise, and lucky, to have been so vigilant, Miss Albarn. Because had you not been, you wouldn't be here with us. Observe." He pointed his wand at the spider.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A blinding blast of green light erupted from the wand before hitting the spider which then fell still, unmarked but unmistakably dead. A number of students cried out, Ron nearly toppled from his chair and the DWMA gang all jumped in shock.

Maka stared at the dead spider, her face white with terror. She had come so close to dying that night and hadn't even realised it until now.

"The killing curse." Moody stated. "Only one person has ever been known to survive it. And he's sitting in this very room." He then turned his gaze to Harry who simply looked pitifully at the innocent dead insect, the thought of his parents weighing heavily on his mind.

XXX

The group were beginning to leave class room, and were discussing the antics of today's lesson, but they weren't really happy about it.

"I'm not sure I like this man that much." Crona said. "He's kind of creepy and that eye of his."

"Exactly" Kid said. "How could he wear that abomination? He's completely asymmetrical!"

"That's not important." Hermione said angrily. "He really went too far. To perform those curses in a classroom. I mean did you see Neville's face?" Ron suddenly nudged Hermione and then jerked his head towards the window. Neville was standing there looking out at the rain. Hermione walked over to him before putting a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"Neville?" She said gently.

"Oh hello." His voice higher than usual. "Some lesson, huh? I wonder what's for dinner? Are you hungry? I sure am?" The others could tell he was still shaken from the class. Crona, knowing the state he was in all too well approached him.

"Neville, are you all right?" He asked.

"Oh yes, I'm fine, Crona, thanks for asking." Neville said, his voice unchanged. "I like your teachers, they're very interesting. Man I'm hungry." Harry and Ron looked at each other, startled by their friend; they'd never seen him like this.

But before anyone else could speak, Moody suddenly appeared behind them, putting a hand on Neville's other shoulder.

"Son. Are you alright?" he said worriedly. Neville nodded silently.

"Come on. We'll have some tea. I want to show you something." Though a little reluctant, Neville followed him back to the classroom. As the others made their way back to the common rooms, Maka couldn't help but ponder about the strange professor.

" _It's weird_." She thought. " _His soul is stable enough, but it looks like it's out of place. Almost as if...it;s not his own_." But as they carried on back towards the common rooms, a yelp sounded from behind them.

"Crona!" Maka cried out as they saw the staircase they'd been on a second ago was turning away to the right, Crona still standing on it, gripping the banister for fear he might fall.

"Wh-What's happening?!" He panicked.

"The staircases like to change direction here, didn't you know?" Ron asked.

"Hagrid might've said it." Black Star muttered.

"Don't worry, Crona. If you follow the stairs down through the dungeon there's a detour from there back to Gryffindor tower." Hermione's directed him. This seemed to calm the demon swordsman as he nodded back to the group as the staircase came to a stop and he carried on.

"I hope he finds his way." Maka said with concern.

"Come on, Maka, it's Marie who has bad direction not Crona." Soul reassured.

XXX

Crona looked from left to right as he wandered the dark corridors of the dungeon, his shoes echoing with every step he took.

"…I think we're lost."

" **Oh, do ya?!** " Ragnarok asked from within him. " **That ditz, Marie's poor sense of direction is rubbing off on you!** "

"Hey, don't talk about her like that!" Crona scolded his partner. "We're all new here anyway, it could happen to anyone." He touched one of the cold stone walls. "Reminds me of when we moved into Death City." As he continued to try and find his way, he wasn't aware of three unwanted figures watching him as Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle peered at him from one of the doors.

"Why is he talking to himself?" the leader wondered.

"He's mental no doubt." Crabbe figured to which Goyle nodded in agreement.

"Well he's on our turf now." Malfoy stated as a wicked idea crossed his mind. "We'll teach those muggle freaks for making fools out of us. Let's see them think themselves better after we show this rack of bones who's in charge here." Though his cronies didn't seem to agree, the three Slytherins crept out from their hiding spot before Malfoy shouted out to Crona's back.

"Hey!" the demon swordsman turned around to face the trio as he offered a greeting smile.

"Oh. Hello. Can you tell me the way to the Gryffindor tower? Our rooms are next door to it but I'm a little lost."

"We can see that." Malfoy snorted. "But you don't seem to realise what trouble you're in."

"Trouble?" Crona tilted his head questioningly, his large pale blue eyes unblinking. The bullies felt a wave of uneasiness from the stare but Malfoy continued to press forward.

"Yes. You need to know your place, muggle. Don't think you're better than us just because you have some fancy flying machine in your robe."

"Flying machine? Are you talking about Ragnarok?"

"I don't care what you call it; the point is compared to those of us who've been blessed with magic your kind are nothing. And yet after that fool, Dumbledore decides to welcome you vermin into this castle you have the arrogance to favour those Gryffindors over us pure bloods!"

"I thought all the houses were equal." Crona replied. The Slytherin's initial anger quickly subsided as his face took on a more condescending look.

"…Maybe I'm wrong about you being arrogant. Seems more like plain stupidity to me since you can't see the obviousness of which house is the greatest. But I shouldn't be surprised; you muggles have no knowledge of your superiors whatsoever." Crona frowned as he tried to puff out his chest. Kid always advised him to stand tall when dealing with this sort of people.

"I don't like what you're saying about me and my friends. And we know more about magic than you realise; My mother was a witch." This revelation appeared to shock the Slytherine trio.

"…Are you serious? You were born and raised by a witch?" Malfoy asked. Crona nodded back and his confusion only grew when Malfoy burst into laughter.

"Hahahahaha! This just got even better! I thought being a muggle was bad enough for you but a squib?! You really are the lowest of the low."

"What did you call me?" Crona asked coldly. He'd dealt with plenty of bullies since the academy took him in, so he was used to petty insults. ' _Sticks and stones_ ' Marie would tell him. But for some reason the way this wizard was speaking to him was starting to try his patience.

"Well of course you wouldn't know what a squib is, seeing as you live among muggles, but let me put it simply. You're the child of a witch who has no magic. An outcast of our society. Bad rubbish really." Malfoy was on such a roll with his rant he didn't realise just how deep of a hole he was now in as Crona felt Ragnarok growling inside him; his blood literally beginning to boil.

"But still, even squibs are worth more than muggle filth! The rest of those freaks who came along must worship you, especially that gutter trash, Albarn! Is she your pet maybe, considering she hardly leaves your side? A house elf must've been too good for you!"

"Take that back." Malfoy stopped laughing when he saw Crona was now glaring at him.

"What was that, squib?" Crabbe asked having enough fire to speak thanks to his leader.

"What you said about Maka. Take it back, now."

"Or what?" Goyle sneered.

"You can say anything you like about me, I can deal with it. Even if you use words I've never heard of. But I won't let you insult my friends, especially Maka. So take it back, or I'll make you pay for it."

"Ooh, is the squib getting angry over us insulting his muggle pet? As if you could do anything to us when you're scrawny as a stick and probably just as brittle."

" **Well that's better than lookin' like a shaved bear who's been on a honey binge, jackass!** " the bullies jumped when they heard a gravelly voice coming from Crona who was still glaring at them.

"You what, skinny?" Goyle snarled but as Crona opened his mouth to reply, Ragnarok spoke first.

" **I'm calling you fat, fuckface! And your boyfriend could lose a few hundred pounds too! And blondie, why don't you go wash that greasy hair of yours before the smell makes me throw up?!** "

"Quiet, Ragnarok! Don't encourage them." Crona spoke back to his partner.

" **I'm standing up for you, be fucking grateful!** "

"Hey, stop talking to yourself!" Malfoy snapped but Crona didn't even hear him as he continued to quarrel with Ragnarok.

"You're gonna get us in trouble."

" **We're already in trouble;** ** _you're_** **making us look bad!** "

"No I'm not!"

" **Yes you are!** "

"No I'm not!"

" **Yes you are!** "

"No I'm not!"

" **Why would you do that?! Are you scared you might break them? Don't be. These douches would look better with bloody noses and black eyes. Still wouldn't be much of an improvement though, especially for fatass! Not even a house elf would find** ** _him_** **attractive! 'Too** ** _good_** **for him' right, Blondie?!** "

"Oh, that's it! I wanted to put the fear in you before we beat you up but now you've pissed me off, ya skinny pink bastard!" Goyle roared as he charged forward and smashed his meaty fist straight into Crona's face with an echoing thud. The whole corridor went silent as Crona stood as still as a statue until Goyle let out a cry of pain and pulled back his now bruised fist.

"What happened?!" Malfoy asked shocked.

"His face! It's like a brick wall!" Goyle cried nursing hand before he felt another one grab his shoulder causing him to look at Crona's glaring face which showed no signs of injury at all.

"You hit me." The demon swordsman murmured in a deathly whisper as he glanced up. "What was it Professor Stein taught us about fighting again, Ragnarok?"

" **If they start it, you finish it.** " Ragnarok replied gleefully as Crona raised his own fist which became coated in black blood forming a boxing glove.

"Normally I don't like fighting. But you insulted my friends and you attacked me, so now you have to be punished." Before Goyle could make so much as a whimper Crona slugged him hard in the face which sent the fat boy flying down the corridor and crashing into the back wall where he crumpled into a heap, his nose broken and bleeding profusely.

Malfoy and Crabbe looked back in shock at the meister before the latter fumbled for his wand. "Stupefy!" Crona, seeing the attack coming, bent backwards to avoid it, his head almost touching the floor like a contortionist. He straightened up and flew at Crabbe, seizing him by his shoulders and headbutting him right between the eyes, knocking him out cold before turning his attention to Malfoy who was now trembling in terrified disbelief.

"Now, for the last time. Take. It. Back." Crona demanded.

"You…You think you're stronger than me?! A worthless squib like you brought up among muggles?! You will respect me!" Malfoy tried desperately to regain some ground, but it was hopeless as Crona spoke back, deathly calm.

"I think I'll try something Black Star taught me: I'm going to count to three. If you don't apologise and take back what you said about Maka, you'll wish you'd never been born."

"If you think you can-"

"One…" Crona began as he reached into the pocket of his robe.

"I'm a pure blood! You can't talk to me like-"

"Two…" Crona ignored him as he stepped forward causing Malfoy to walk back, tripping over Crabbe's unconscious body.

"I mean it! If you touch me, I'll have you locked up in Azkaban for life!"

"Three." Crona finished as he whipped his hand back out. Malfoy shut his eyes, waiting for the blow…but it never came. He opened his eyes to see Crona holding out a scrap of paper towards him with something written on it.

Confused, the Slytherin read the passage and as he did so he felt a truly horrible sensation course through his mind and body. It felt as though all his positivity was being drained by dementors as he sank to the floor and curled up in a foetal position. What had this scrawny squib done to him? Had he made him read some sort of curse?

"…I wish I'd never been born…" Malfoy wept as Crona shook his head shamefully.

"Since you won't apologise, I'll just leave you here to think about what you've done." He said as he wandered over to Goyle who'd woken up in time to see him reduce his leader to a trembling ball of depression. Crona didn't say a word but knelt down as Ragnarok's hulking form emerged from his back and got right up in Goyle's face who was too scared to make a sound despite his desire to scream in terror.

"Tell us the way back to Gryffindor tower, asshole, before I rip your soul out." The demon sword hissed to which Goyle raised his shaking bruised hand to point to the right. Ragnarok snickered at the bully, now a snivelling child as he showed off his large teeth in a mad grin as he gripped the Slytherine's fat face with a gloved hand.

"Let's eat his brain." He suggested licking his chops. Goyle fainted.

"Ragnarok you know we can't do that." Crona scolded as he looked over his shoulder at Malfoy and smiled innocently at him.

"Brains give me indigestion." With that the third bully passed out in a dead faint. Satisfied Crona got to his feet and sauntered off, raising his hand for Ragnarok to high-five.

"I'll give you this much, pansy. You're starting to get the hang of your sense of humour."

"Thanks." Crona replied.

"You mean 'thanks very much.'" Crona ignored that last part as he finally exited the dungeon and smiled as he saw the staircase leading to the tower dead ahead.

"I think I can deal with Hogwarts."

 **To be continued…**


	4. Hogsmeade & House Elves

**Finally a new chapter! Thank you for all your patience eveyrone and for all the faves and follows I've been receiving for this story. I was honestly worried if it would take off since Soul Eater ended years ago but it's clear the fandom is still thriving.**

 **Anyway as younmgith have noticed I'm using material from both the movie and books and some events from the latter will be slightly out of order but I find it won't effect the overall story much.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Soul Eater belongs to Atsushi Okubo**

 **Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Hogsmeade & House Elves**

Needless to say, the DWMA gang's first day at Hogwarts had been an eventful one. After making his way out of the dungeon Crona did indeed find himself back at the tower where his friends were waiting. After filling them in on what had happened the reactions he got were varied to be sure. Some like Maka and Kid were furious with the actions of Malfoy and his cronies wanting to track him down for some more payback; others such as Hermione and Tsubaki were concerned fearing Crona might get in trouble though they were quickly reassured when he insisted he'd defended himself; and for some like Ron, Black Star and Patty it was all a big laugh to them.

Moving on from the event however, the next day was Saturday which allowed the Hogwarts students to give the DWMA gang a tour of the castle, hopefully so there wouldn't be anymore cases of members getting separated. Of course, the tour was anything but simple for the mages when it came to their new friends.

"I know I keep saying this, but you guys really have it made when it comes to meals here." Black Star once again praised the castle's catering service as the gang were having breakfast. "Whoever cooks this stuff must be one hell of a chef."

"OH! That reminds me!" Hermione piped up as she reached into her bag and pulled out a box which was filled with badges. "I was hoping you might want to join my party." The DWMA gang looked at the badges curiously.

"Spew?" Ragnarok cocked his 'eyebrow' as he read what was on the buttons. "What kind of group calls itself another name for throwing up? What was Vomit too fancy? Or puke too cliché?" Fred & George stifled a snigger as Hermione pouted irritably.

"It's not spew, Ragnarok. It's S.P.E.W- The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

"Elfish Welfare?" Soul queried.

"Hermione's started a political tirade for the rights of house elves." Ron explained. "They're the ones who do the cleaning and cooking here. And _they love it_." He seemed to emphasise the last part to the girl herself who scoffed at him.

"It's slave labour whether you believe it or not, Ronald. With how much they're taken for granted and the work they're put through they deserve to be free or at the very least paid."

"I take it that's why your plate is all but empty?" Liz observed Hermione's breakfast which only consisted of a couple slices of toast.

"It's all because of what happened to Winky." Harry elaborated. "Learning that house elves work here only added fuel to the fire."

"Oh yeah, that little elf from the campsite." Maka remembered. "So she really did get the blame for the Dark Mark." The trio nodded grimly. "Well you can sign me up, Hermione. If it'll stop more cases of scapegoating them you've got my support."

"Thanks, Maka. It's two sickles to join; proceeds go towards the campaign. Ron's the treasurer, so just pass your payment on to him."

"I'm surprised those two aren't sisters." Black Star muttered as Maka pinned one of the badges to her coat.

"Yeah, they're almost like you and me, Sis." Patty said to Liz who appeared to agree with her.

XXX

Afterwards, the group began their tour of the castle. Although Black Star seemed to have a different way of 'climbing the stairs' as he resorted to parkour, leaping between staircases and kicking off the walls to see how high he could get, cheering all the way.

Though when he lost his footing and fell back down to the bottom floor, Hermione nearly fainted thinking he was dead. However Black Star was tougher than nails and climbed back up to the others moments later, unharmed but rubbing his head. He glanced at the Gryffindors who were all gaping at his unbelievable endurance.

"Ow?" he said sarcastically shrugging his shoulders.

When Harry showed them his favourite part of the school (the quidditch pitch), Kid immediately started screaming about how asymmetrical it was, what with the goal posts being different heights and being randomly arranged.

"Fred and George were hoping you might join the team as a substitute with that flying skateboard of yours but now I'm not sure you'd take to it well." Ron joked.

"You should see him when his picture frames are crooked." Liz chuckled much to Kid's ire.

And finally as the group were making their way down one of the corridors, the group suddenly crossed paths with, of all things, a ghost. This of course sent Liz into a screaming fit being that she was terrified of ghosts.

"I can't believe we forgot to mention the ghosts." Hermione sighed after the confused spectre had floated off.

"Well let's at least be thankful it wasn't-"

"Ah, getting chummy with the witch hunters are we, kiddies~!" A cackling voice interrupted Ron before another smaller ghost phased through the ceiling: it was the mischievous poltergeist, Peeves.

"Spoke too soon." Ron groaned in annoyance. "Get out of here, Peeves! We don't have time for you right now."

"Oh but I have all the time in the world, Wheezy." The poltergeist snickered. "Let's see how angry we can make these muggles before they decide to burn us at the stake." He suggested before he began making mischief. He first targeted Kid.

"Nice stripes, fancy boy! Does traffic stop every time you walk down the pavement?"

"You take that back!" Kid demanded.

"Such a shame that everything else about you is so perfectly balanced. You're like a painting someone gave up on at the last second!" The young reaper soon collapsed to floor from the reminder of his most hated feature as Peeves turned his attention to Maka or more accurately her hair.

"Ooh pigtails, my favourite!" He rubbed his hands gleefully before seizing one and gave it a sharp tug earning a yelp from Maka.

"Why you little!" She snarled and swung her fist at him only for it to go right through the poltergeist who laughed in her face and resumed pulling her hair.

"Leave her alone!" Crona yelled at him gaining his attention.

"Good idea. You look about as whimpy as Longbottom, Pinky." He grinned as he let go of Maka and begun yanking Crona's robe to try and trip him up. "Let's see what your hiding under there, girly!"

"I'm a boy!" Crona shouted back angrily, but before Peeves could make a comeback Ragnarok popped out of Crona's back and stuffed the annoying ghost into his mouth.

At first Peeves didn't care thinking he could just fly out, but when he found out he couldn't he began to go into an enraged panic.

"What is this?! I can't get out!" his muffled scream sounded from within.

"That's right, you can't" Ragnarok said through his closed teeth. "Ghosts and souls are exactly the same and I eat souls for breakfast." He cackled and then began to chew on the poltergeist which only made him scream louder.

"You can't eat me! I'll call for Filch!" He yelled.

"Oh I don't know, Peeves." Harry smirked. "If you ask me I think Filch would be really glad to hear you got eaten."

"Ragnarok wait" Maka said. The demon sword stopped chewing and turned to her.

"What?"

"This guy may be a jerk, but his soul is innocent. You can't eat him."

"What?! That's bull-crap! Why should you care about him? You heard Harry; nobody likes this guy."

"Ragnarok…" she said looking at him a little strictly. Ragnarok grumbled before spitting the poltergeist onto the floor. The latter was now horribly chewed up and covered in Ragnarok's saliva. And as he got back up he yelped when he saw that his right foot was missing. The others looked at Ragnarok who burped and then grinned evilly at Peeves.

"Yummy" he said licking his lips. Peeves then turned tail and flew down the hall cursing them all. They only laughed.

"Well I guess a foot can't do any damage" Maka said.

"Yeah. And maybe now he'll think twice about pestering you guys." Hermione said.

"The pleasure's mine" Ragnarok said folding his arms proudly.

"Well now that the tours over, how about we spend the afternoon in Hogsmeade? Fred, George, Ginny and Neville can come too." Ron suggested.

"Hey, yeah." Patty said. "George said it was great place to go."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Soul said.

XXX

The Gryffindor students and the DWMA gang soon arrived at the snowy village of Hogsmeade, wrapped up in their winter clothes. A few had scarfs, some were wearing beanie hats and Maka was wearing her favourite ear muffs.

"So what kind of shops does this place have, George?" Patty asked.

"Well there's quite a few." George replied. "Our particular favourites are Zonko's joke shop and Honeydukes sweet shop." Ragnarok suddenly burst out of Crona's back.

"Sweets? Did you say sweets?" The demon sword asked vigorously.

"Yep. And it seems you have fondness for them my friend." George said with a smile.

"So what else is there?" Liz asked.

"Well there's a book shop I enjoy visiting." Hermione suggested. "I bet you'd like to go there Maka." The two girls chuckled at each other.

"Again, are we sure they aren't sisters?" Black Star asked again.

"There's the shrieking shack as well." Ginny inquired.

"The shrieking shack?" Liz repeated her voice beginning to fill up with fear. Fred took notice of this and decided to have some fun.

"Oh yes." He said eerily. "Folks who live here say that every full moon they hear horrible shrieks and howls coming from within it. Because of that no one dares to enter. Even when it's not a full moon." Harry Ron and Hermione of course already new the secret of the shrieking shack and thus they no longer feared it (then again, it was only Ron who had been scared).

"Is that so?" Kid asked rubbing his hand against his chin. "I think I might just take a look. Care to join me Liz?"

"THAT'S A BIG FAT NO!" She yelled back cowering behind Patty.

"There's also the Hogshead bar. They have the most amazing Butterbeer around" Ron said. Soul grinned showing his sharp teeth.

"Oh really? And what exactly is Butterbeer?" he asked intriguingly.

"It's delicious that's what it is." Ron replied. "If you're ever feeling cold, it warms you up in seconds. And it doesn't have alcohol in it so children are allowed to drink it."

"Well then, how's about you and I go for a pint, mate?" Soul suggested slinging an arm over Ron's shoulder.

"Now hang on. Let's not get too carried away." Tsubaki said. "If we're all going to different locations, we should meet up at an agreed time later."

"Good idea Tsubaki" Neville agreed.

"Well we're going to Honeydukes. Right Crona?" Ragnarok said ruffling his meister's hair.

"S-S-Sure" Crona stuttered. Apparently the cold was beginning to get to him.

"I'll come too." Patty said.

"And me." Liz said.

"Same here." Ginny said.

"Well we're going to Zonko's" Fred, George and Ron said.

" **Count us in**." Soul and Black Star said.

"Then we're going to the book shop." Maka said with an agreeing nod from Hermione.

"I'll come along." Neville offered.

"We'll I'm rather curious about this shack." Kid said. "Is anyone coming with me?"

"I'll go Kid, I'm curious too." Tsubaki said.

"If you want to know more about it, I'll come along." Harry offered.

"Ok. Then how about we meet up at the Hogshead in an hour." Maka suggested.

"Sounds good to me" Black Star said.

"Well see you later everyone." Tsubaki said, as the groups went off to their chosen locations.

XXX

Ragnarok, Crona, Liz and Patty all gaped at the sight that now met their eyes. They were now standing inside a medium sized shop, and lining the walls were jars upon jars of sweets, nuts, cakes and every other form of confectionary. Ginny, looking at her friends amazed expressions, giggled. Ragnarok and Patty slowly turned their heads to face each other, their eyes narrowed. Even though they didn't speak, both hungry weapons knew what the other was thinking: 'MINE!'

Patty immediately shot towards the nearest shelf and made a grab for one of the jars. Ragnarok attempted to reach for a jar as well, but due to being attached to Crona, all the little demon could do was flail his arms aimlessly.

"What the hell are you doing dumbass?! Stop standing there like a zombie and get over to those shelves, before that sugar junky takes the lot. They'll be none left for us! GO! HYA MULE! GIDDY UP! HYA! HYA! HYA!" He began to bob up a down and slap his palm against the side of Crona's head, as the demon sword continued his jockey impression. Crona clumsily ran up to Patty and began to look at the jars as well.

"Jeez Raggy, cool your jets. I was only looking at one jar. And if anything, you're the sugar junkie here." Patty said as she glared at the demon.

"Bite me." He replied. "Now Crona, just empty our wallets and put it all into this little slice of heaven."

"Whoa slow down, Ragnarok." Ginny said as she came up to them. "Before you start spending you need to know, these are magic sweets; They're not like the ones from your part of the world."

"What?! You mean I can't get any M&Ms here? This blows!" Ragnarok whined. Crona was currently looking at one jar that was filled with round sweets with purple and pinks swirls on them. The label read 'Summer Berry Splash: when chewed these sweets release a splash of summer berry juices which gracefully cascade down your throat. Certainly, one of our most relaxing candies in town.'

A small smile appeared on Crona's face. " _I bet Maka would love some of these whenever she's reading."_ he thought to himself. He then carried the jar to the desk and paid for a pound of them.

"Ragnarok. We'll definitely come back again, we're here for a year after all. So for now just pick one type. I'm also going to get something for our friends." Crona said.

"Hey!" Ragnarok yelled. "That's our money! If the others want sweets, they can buy them themselves!"

"You don't have to pay for it all yourself, Crona" Liz said. "Patty and I will get some for the others as well."

"Thank you." Crona replied.

About fifteen minutes later the group had left Honeydukes, carrying twenty bags of sweets. They had also decided to get some for Stein, Marie, Blair and even some to mail to Lord Death.

Patty had got 'ice mice' which made her teeth chatter rapidly and occasionally she would let out a sharp squeak.

Liz had got herself some of 'Drooble's best blowing gum', which let her blow large purple bubbles which lasted for hours.

Ragnarok had got himself a bag of small black sweets known as 'Pepper Imps'. Ginny had told him that they were incredibly spicy and that eating them would make the consumer spray white smoke out of their ears. Being a lover of spicy, Ragnarok was more than happy to buy them, but since he had no ears whenever he ate one the smoke would come out of his mouth.

Crona had got what he believed to be a large box of jelly beans, and he wasn't from the truth. While they did contain the common fruit flavours, 'Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans' literally meant what they said on the label. This was proven when Crona was unfortunate enough to eat a green one, which he thought was apple or lime, but actually turned out to be snot. This of course made the others laugh at the disgusted face he made after swallowing it.

For Soul Crona had picked out a strange sweet know as a 'Will O' Whips'. To both his and the others surprise, it looked a lot like a soul, round, purple and wispy at the top.

For Black Star they had got him some chocolate frogs, since they thought it would be fun to watch him try and catch them.

They chose some 'Choco balls' for Tsubaki, a strange skull shaped sweet called 'Death's candy' for Kid, 'Glacial Snow Flakes' for Marie which melted in your mouth instantly, some 'Sugar Quills' for Stein that he could suck on while signing papers, some more 'Ice Mice' for Blair seeing how she was a cat and finally some Sherbet Lemons for Lord Death (It was quite a coincidence that both he and Dumbledore enjoyed the same sweet).

" **We hit the jackpot!** " Ragnarok and Patty cheered as they high-fived.

"It seems you guys really enjoyed yourselves." The others turned around to see Maka, Hermione and Neville walking up to them, all carrying books.

"Hey guys" Patty waved to them. "Look what we got." She sang as she held up the bags.

Crona then hurried over to Maka and held out one of the bags to her. "I got these for you Maka." He said trying hard not to blush.

"Oh, Crona thank you. That's so sweet, no pun intended" Maka said. The two of them laughed as she took the bag from him and read the label. Intrigued she took one of the swirly sweets out of the bag and popped it into her mouth. She chewed a couple of times before a wide smile spread across her.

"They're divine!" she cried. "I've never tasted anything so delicious. Thanks so much, Crona!"

"I-I'm g-glad you like them M-Maka" Crona stuttered shyly at her gratitude.

"Oh get a room or get me a bucket." Ragnarok groaned as looked away from them.

"Well seeing that we're done here, let's go find the others." Patty suggested.

"Yeah" the others agreed as they began up the street towards their next location.

XXX

Even though Zonko's joke shop was fairly empty this morning, Soul and Black Star were causing enough laughter to fill the whole store. They had been constantly battling each other with prank after prank and needless to say, the Weasley brothers couldn't help enjoying their comedic battle.

"I'm gonna get you for that Soul!" Black Star yelled as he chased the scythe through the shop. His hair had somehow been turned bright pink and curly and Soul was comically running away from his friend holding an aerosol can with the name 'Joke hairspray! Change your enemy's hair style and colour to your liking: effects last 2 hours'.

"HaHaHa! Well you'll have to catch me first~!" Soul sang as he kept running before hitting a dead end giving Black Star the opportunity to spray him with another can which made his hair expand into a large orange afro. He then retaliated by pressing a small metal object that was attached to his palm into Black Stars' chest sending a jolt of static electricity through his body making the assassin vibrate on the spot and blue sparks shot out of his pink hair. By this point Fred George and Ron were rolling on the floor laughing. Seconds later Maka and the others entered the shop only to see their friends wrestling on the floor with their wacky hairstyles. This of course sent them into a fit of laughter as well.

"You two look so silly!" Patty laughed as she kicked her feet in the air clutching her chest.

"Was there an accident at deodorant factory?" Liz asked as she covered mouth to stifle her laughter.

"Or are you planning on joining the circus?" Maka laughed banging her hand against the wall.

"This place is brilliant!" Black Star cheered. "We've only been to one shop and now I want to come here every day!"

"You can say that again." Soul added as he prodded at his afro. "All the others back home are in for a big surprise when we show 'em our new toys."

"Well come on you jokers. We still have to meet up with Harry, Kid and Tsubaki." Ginny said.

XXX

Kid, Harry and Tsubaki were currently making their way back towards the village. Behind them was a large, old, creepy looking wooden house. While there Harry had told his friends the secret of the supposedly haunted house and how it got its name (including the whole fiasco with his former teacher and werewolf, Remus Lupin).

"I feel so sorry for Remus. Judging by what you've told us, he sounded like a great teacher." Tsubaki said pitifully. The man himself seemed to carry a few traits akin to Stein; a caring and inspiring teacher though one with an inner darkness beyond his control. And Kid appeared to have the same idea as Tsubaki.

"Forgive me, Harry, but I can't help but resent your school a little for just firing him for something he couldn't help. You said so yourself that Snape made him potion that rendered him harmless." Kid said.

"I understand, and I agree with you both, but they didn't have a choice." Harry replied "When word got out about Remus' curse, parents were willing to remove their children from Hogwarts. Remus couldn't let that happen knowing he was the cause of the uproar so he chose to leave of his own accord."

"Hey! Over here!" The others looked to see the rest of the group approaching them. They then started laughing when they saw Black Star and Soul's hair.

"Looks like you all had fun." Tsubaki said

"You got that right." Ragnarok said as he tossed another pepper imp into his mouth and breathed out a large cloud of smoke.

"So what was it like?" Maka asked.

"Rather enlightening actually" Kid answered. "There was quite a lot of history in that building. Though for some reason when I found a tunnel under the house, Harry told me not to enter it. Do any of you know why?"

"Oh. That's because of the womping willow" Hermione said.

"The what?" Black Star asked.

"It's a type of tree that grows in the school grounds. You might have seen it on your way to the school when you arrived."

"You mean the one with the big knotted stump and really long branches that keep moving?" Soul asked.

"That's the one." Ron confirmed. "It's really territorial, so if you go near it, it'll try and crush you with it branches. But underneath it is the entrance to the tunnel Kid found."

"Well how the hell are you supposed to get to the tunnel if that big weed's trying to kill you?" Ragnarok questioned.

"There's a special root on it. And if you touch it, the tree freezes for a few minutes, giving you enough time to get in." Hermione explained.

"Fascinating" Kid said.

"Well anyway, now that we're done shopping, how about we go get some of that Butterbeer Ron mentioned?" Soul suggested.

" **Yeah!** " The others agreed.

XXX

The group were now currently sitting at a large table in the Hogshead bar. Each person had a large tankard of Butterbeer with them and needless to say the DWMA gang were really enjoying the warm beverage.

"Oh man, you weren't kidding about this stuff!" Liz slammed her empty mug down on table after finishing, a light blush dusting her cheeks. "Sure beats whatever piss I used to drink back before I met Kid."

"Wait, you drank beer?! But you're minor!" Ginny pointed out.

"Well when you used to be a mugger and can turn into a gun at will, you didn't exactly care for the rules then." Liz chuckled. Patty was faring about the same as she let out a belch which earned a round of mixed laughs and scoffs from the other occupants.

"Hey, can I get refill here?!" She called out to the bar.

"Make it two-*hic*-cowgirl." Soul laughed who appeared to be even redder in the face than Liz was. It seemed all three weapons were getting tipsy from drinking so much butterbeer.

"Didn't you say this stuff was non-alcoholic?" Maka double checked, eyeing her half empty mug cautiously while also throwing a worried glance at Crona whom she originally thought was napping but may in fact have passed out next to her, drunk.

"Well it's as close to non-alcoholic as a drink can get." George specified. "But that doesn't mean you can't get drunk off it. Beer is still beer after all." He laughed. " **Cheers!** " He and his twin slammed their mugs together loudly.

"*Hic*- Cinnamon jelly beans!" Crona awoke from his blackout with a start.

"Crona! Are you ok?" Maka checked him over but squeaked when he suddenly hugged her.

"Your eyes are so pretty~." He smiled dazedly, Maka not knowing what to do or say as she blushed, unaware of Patty snapping a picture of the two.

"Man he's a real lightweight." Ron snickered before he noticed a couple of figures settle into one of the booths. "Hey, isn't that Cedric?"

"Who?" Kid asked as the others looked at the young man Ron had noticed.

"Oh, that's Cedric Diggory." Hermione identified him. "He's a sixth year here; a Hufflepuff."

"Diggory. Where have I heard that name?" Maka pondered.

"You met his Dad, Amos, at the Quidditch Cup." Harry recounted.

"Oh yeah, that's right. I take it he plays the game like you do?" Maka presumed.

"Yeah, he does." Fred confirmed. "He's a strong seeker. In fact, he's the only person to beat Harry in a match."

"He's never considered it a victory, though, since Harry was attacked during the game." George added, hoping recalling the event didn't put a damper on the Gryffindor seeker.

Cedric himself happened to notice the others at this point and gave them a friendly smile and wave along with the person accompanying him. A pretty girl with long, shiny dark hair.

"Cho?" Harry recognised her.

"Who'd've thought she was going out with Cedric?" Neville wondered.

"Hey, we don't know that's the case. Let's not spread any rumours." Harry muttered glancing shyly at Cho. A detail which didn't go unnoticed by Liz.

"Aww, is she your crush, magic man?" She giggled causing Harry to blush and Ginny to frown. "Go talk to her."

"I-It's not like that, Liz." Harry denied as Soul let out a drunken laugh of his own.

"Hey, dude, I get it. You prefer the subtle approach, right? I'll set the mood." He grinned as he got up, despite Harry's protests, and half-stumbled towards something in the corner of the room: a piano. The scythe sat down at the instrument and almost immediately began to play a smooth jazzy tune gaining the attention of everyone in the bar.

"I didn't know Soul could play piano." Ginny said.

"He's got real talent." Hermione added as all focus had been diverted towards Soul's playing.

"Yep." Maka replied. "Though none of us have heard him play in months. Even though he's brilliant at it, he never takes advantage of it. It's a shame really. We all wish he'd play the piano every day." The three girls stopped their conversation momentarily as Black Star, who'd also grown tipsy, was seen crawling rapidly on the floor trying to catch one of the chocolate frogs he'd opened.

"Dammit! Come 'ere ya stupid frog so I can bite your head off!" he yelled as he made another grab for the living sweet.

"You know guys; you should put your names in the goblet soon. The draw's only a week from now." Ron said.

"Yeah, you're right. I say we do it tomorrow." Maka suggested. "I wonder which one of us is going to get picked?"

"It's gonna be me. It's my destiny to win this tournament and prove that the DWMA is the best of the best!" Black Star claimed as he proceeded to bite off the chocolate frog's head (which he'd finally managed to catch).

"Actually now that I think about it, we're going to need our weapon partners, obviously. So I say we write both our names and our partners' names on the same piece of parchment, that way it'll be easier for the goblet to choose a pair." Kid brought up.

"Good idea Kid." Liz said, who was in the middle of draining her mug of Butterbeer just as Soul finished playing his piece.

"We love you, Hogwarts! Goodnight!" He laughed drunkenly as he raised his arm and morphed it into a scythe preparing to cleave the piano with it before he was pulled back by Black Star and Ron.

"Whoa! Ok, you've had your fill, mate." The latter suggested.

XXX

The next day, the group of friends were chatting together in the Gryffindor common room. Lessons had been the same for both the mages and weapons & meisters respectively, though Hermione had been surprisingly absent from meals that day and no one seemed to have a clue to where she'd gone.

"Probably off on another fruitless attempt to gather more members for her Spew group." Fred assumed.

"Probably shouldn't've told her about the secret painting to the kitchen, Fred." George reprimanded his twin.

"If she goes about trying to start a revolution we may be seeing the last of these snacks so savour 'em." He added, helping himself to a jam tart from the plate he'd brought along.

"You mean the house elves make you snacks?" Black Star asked eagerly.

"Oh yes." Fred grinned. "There's a secret painting that leads right to the kitchen. Dead helpful, those elves. You can request almost anything from them and they'll prepare and deliver, no questions asked."

"Now that's the kind of service I'd tip." Ragnarok grinned as he emptied the plate into his maw much to the twins' chagrin.

"Surely they must get something to compensate them though." Maka hoped.

"I'm telling you, Maka, the work is its own reward when it comes to them. Offering money or clothes will just put them off their cooking." George assured before the door swung open and low and behold Hermione was standing there flushed and out of breath.

"Harry! Harry you've- you've _got_ to come- and see this!" she panted as she pulled the boy to his feet and dragged him out the common room, Ron hurrying behind them.

"Anybody wanna see what's up with her?" Soul asked the rest of the gang.

"Well I do, I haven't seen her this excited before." Maka wondered as she followed after them along with Soul.

"Hey wait for me! My gut's telling me I'm gonna like this." Black Star chased after the group as Hermione lead them down several hallways before eventually reaching a large stone corridor lined with torches and cheerful painting of food.

Harry and Ron had realised where she was leading them to when they recognised one painting in particular: a large silver fruit bowl.

"Hermione you're roping us into another one of your Spew things, aren't you?!" Ron frowned.

"That's not its name and you know it, Ron." Hermione replied hastily.

"So what are we liberating them at the source now or something? Because I'm not barging in there to try and make them quit, I won't do it-"

"That's not why I brought you here!" Hermione said impatiently. "I just wanted to talk to them after Fred tipped me off where to find them. But when I got there I found- it doesn't matter, I'll show you, come on!"

"She's really whole hog on this house elf stuff." Soul commented.

"Well when their service is this great who can blame her?" Black Star grinned. As Hermione approached the fruit bowl painting; she reached out and tickled a pear causing it to squirm and chuckle before it turned into a green door handle. Hermione grabbed it and pulled the painting open before ushering Harry inside, the others close behind.

They soon found themselves in an enormous room as big as the Great Hall with stacks of pots and pans around the stone walls and an enormous brick fireplace in the back. Everyone was quick to notice that the room was filled with house elves running about the room, busy as bees with whatever task they were carrying out, until one of them suddenly stopped and hurtled towards the group squealing "Harry Potter, Sir! _Harry Potter!_ "

Before he could react Harry was almost thrown backwards as the elf tackled his midriff, hugging him tight enough to almost break bone.

"D-DOBBY?!" Harry gasped.

"Yes, Sir, it _is_ Dobby! Dobby has been hoping and hoping to see Harry Potter again, Sir, after all this time, Sir!" The house elf stepped back allowing Harry and the others to see him beaming in full view. To Maka and Soul he didn't look that much different from Winky, only slightly taller with large green eyes and a long nose instead of a round red one like she had.

"You know this elf, Harry?" Maka asked.

"He used to belong to the Malfoys." Hermione explained. "That is until Harry tricked them into setting Dobby free."

"How'd you do it?" Black Star asked Harry curiously.

"Clothes." Harry answered plainly. "It's the one thing that can free a house when given to them by their masters. I tricked Malfoy's Father into throwing one of my socks which Dobby caught."

"That explains the wardrobe." Soul muttered as the others took notice of the bizarre assortment of garments Dobby was dressed in. He was wearing a blue tea cosy for a hat with several badges pinned to it; a patterned tie over his bare chest; a pair of child size gym shorts and mismatched socks; one of which was Harry's old black one, the other pink with orange stripes.

"What on earth are you doing here, Dobby? Last I heard you were looking for paid work."

"That's it, Sir! Dobby has come to work at Hogwarts, Sir!' Dobby said joyfully. "Professor Dumbledore gave Dobby and Winky jobs!"

"Winky's here too?" Maka asked causing Dobby to look at her, Soul and Black Star in surprise.

"Dobby does not recognise you, Miss. Are you friends of Harry Potter like Miss Granger and Mr Weasley?"

"Yes we are." Black Star grinned. "Does that mean we can have free snacks?" Maka elbowed him in the ribs before addressing Dobby.

"We're students from one of the schools competing in the tournament: The DWMA. My name's Maka. Maka Albarn." Dobby's tennis ball eyes widened in awe.

"The stories were true. Dobby heard many whispers of the muggle dark wizard hunters in his life, but never did Dobby think he would ever meet one. Let alone one who is friends with Harry Potter. Any friend of his is a friend of Dobby's."

"Well it's very nice to meet you too, Dobby." Maka smiled offering her hand to the friendly elf who shook it gratefully. "So you mentioned Winky's working here."

"Oh yes, of course, Miss. This way." Dobby lead the group through the kitchen. As they walked the DWMA students noticed the ceiling above them was see-through and had long familiar tables lining it. They realised the kitchen was directly beneath the Great Hall and situated on the floor equidistant of the tables above were identical ones with many house elves (wearing identical clean tea towels like togas, stamped with the Hogwarts crest) setting up dishes.

"So that's how they do it." Black Star figured out how the food magically transported itself into the hall.

"Here is Winky." Dobby presented the elf they were looking for sitting on a stool by the fireplace.

Like Dobby, Winky too was dressed in clothes, however whilst Dobby's were clean enough to be brand new hers were covered in stains and even a couple of burn marks.

"Hello, Winky, how are you feeling?" Maka greeted the elf only for Winky to suddenly burst into tears as if at the mention of her name.

"Oh dear." Hermione worried. "Winky, please don't cry..." But the poor elf only cried harder.

"Would Harry Potter and his friends care for some tea?" Dobby offered loudly over Winky's sobs.

"Um- sure, thank you." Harry accepted and no sooner had he done so about a dozen of the surrounding elves rushed to the group carrying trays bearing cups, teapots, milk jugs and sugar bowls.

"Wow! Fred and George weren't kidding." Soul muttered, surprised by their speed as he took a cup.

"Talk about great service." Ron said, in an impressed voice.

"You got that right. They even brought biscuits." Black Star noted. Hermione frowned at their actions but the elves all appeared overjoyed and bowed to them.

"Just how long have you been working here?" Harry asked Dobby getting the conversation back on track.

"A week, Sir." Dobby answered. "You see, Sir, Dobby travelled all over the country trying to find work, Sir. But no one would hire Dobby since he wants pay now." The other house elves, who'd been watching and listening with interest turned away at the mention of Dobby's conditions as though the elf had cursed in front of them.

"Well good for you, Dobby." Said Hermione proudly.

"You shouldn't have to settle for less." Maka agreed much to Dobby's delight as he continued his story.

"Thank you, Miss. The other wizarding families didn't want to accept Dobby's condition and only slammed the door in his face. Dobby likes work but he wants to wear clothes and be paid. Dobby likes being free!"

The Hogwarts elves were now backing away from him as though he were contaminated. Winky however remained where she was, though her crying seemed to have grown louder.

"And then, Sir, Dobby found Winky and learned that she had been freed too."

With that Winky through herself onto the kitchen floor with a howl of misery, banging her tiny fists against the stone ground. Hermione hastily tried to comfort her but to no avail. Dobby continued, now having to shout over Winky to be heard.

"So then Dobby has an idea. He says 'Why don't Dobby and Winky look for work together?' But Winky asks back 'Where is there enough work for two house elves?' And then Dobby realises it! _Hogwarts_!"

"I can see why you'd want to work here." Soul said. "I'm sure Dumbledore treats you far better than Malfoy's family ever did."

"Oh yes, Sir, very much, Sir!" Dobby confirmed. "Professor Dumbledore hired Dobby and Winky right away! And he says he will pay Dobby if Dobby wants pay! And so Dobby is a free elf, Sir and he gets one galleon a week and one day off a month!"

"Is that all?! That's not very much!" Hermione shouted from the floor over Winky's screams.

"Professor Dumbledore originally offered Dobby ten galleons a week and weekends off, Miss." Dobby said, giving a small shiver at the mention. "But Dobby requested less, miss. Dobby likes freedom but doesn't want too much freedom. He likes work better."

"Employee of the month right here." Black Star proclaimed the house elf.

"And what about you, Winky?" Maka asked gently. "How much are you getting paid?" Winky did stop crying but to the scythe meister's surprise she glared at her.

"Winky is a disgraced elf, but she would never ask for pay! Winky hasn't sunk that low! She's ashamed to be free!"

"Ashamed?!" Hermione said aghast. "Winky if anyone should be ashamed it should be Mr Crouch for firing you for nothing!"

"Yeah! Just because he couldn't do his job properly doesn't give him the right use you as a scapegoat! He was awful to you!" But the girls' words only made Winky cover her ears and scream.

"You is not insulting my Master! Mr Crouch is a good wizard! He was right to sack bad Winky!"

"Winky is having trouble adjusting, Harry Potter." Dobby explained sympathetically. "She forgets she is not bound to Mr Crouch anymore; she may speak her mind about him if she wishes but she won't."

"You mean house elves can't speak about their masters?" Harry asked.

"Oh no, Sir. 'Tis a part of the house elve's enslavement. We must keep the secrets of our masters and never speak ill of them. Uphold the family honour- though Dumbledore did say to Dobby that if he wished he could call him..." Dobby cleared his throat before saying in a whisper the others had to listen closely for.

"...A barmy old codger, Sir." Ron, Soul and Black Star let out a hearty laugh at this; Maka even covering her mouth to suppress a giggle. Even Dobby himself let out frightened one of his own.

"But Dobby does not want to, Sir. Dobby likes Professor Dumbledore very much, Harry Potter. He is kind and respectful to all house elves, Sir." Though she'd initially been shocked by Dumbledore's employment of house elves, his offer of larger pay and benefits to Dobby as well as his oral treatment of the elves did put Hermione at ease.

"So I'm guessing you could say anything you like about the Malfoys now that your free of them." Ron wagered with a grin.

"Dobby- Dobby could, Sir." Dobby said, a fearful, doubtful look in his eyes. "Dobby could tell you that his old masters were- were _evil dark wizards_!" He shouted before he suddenly became horrified and ran to the nearest wall which he proceeded to bang his head against.

"Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!" He squeaked before Harry quickly pulled him away. "Thank you, Harry Potter, thank you. Old habits."

"If it makes you feel any better, Crona really gave Malfoy the business a couple days ago." Ron smirked. "Snape found him curled up in the dungeons wishing he was never born."

"You just need a little practice." Harry encouraged.

"Practice?!" Winky shrieked furiously. "You is ought to be ashamed of yourself, Dobby, speaking ill of your masters that way!"

"They isn't my masters no more, Winky!" Dobby stated defiantly. "Dobby doesn't care about them or what they think at all!"

"You is bad elf, Dobby! Bad!" Winky cried as she went back to sobbing. "Poor Mr Crouch! What is he to do without Winky? He is needing me! Needing my help! I look after the Crouches my whole life just as my Mother does it before me and my grandmother before her! What would say if they could see Winky now?! The Crouches are my family and now they is gone! Winky is alone and disgraced! Oh the shame!"

Hermione looked almost ready to cry herself seeing Winky in such a state but before she could attempt to comfort her again Maka approached.

"You know, Winky, I have a friend who grew up rather like you. He had a mother but she was the farthest thing from one. She treated him like a slave. Hurt him whether he did something wrong or not. She broke him down to the point where he believed there was nothing else in the world for him."

Maka couldn't tell if Winky was listening or not due to her face being buried in her hands, but she pressed on.

"But then he met me and when I found out about all the horrible things that had happened to him I set him free. When that happened it was like his whole world had disappeared; he didn't know what to do, where to go or who to turn to. But I gave him an answer; I brought him home with me to the DWMA. I became his friend and my friends became his friends too. And eventually he realised he didn't need his awful Mother anymore because he'd found his true family in our world with his friends."

Soul and Black Star smiled proudly knowing full well who she was talking about whereas Harry, Ron and Hermione, though also aware of who it was, were surprised to know his scars ran that deep.

"My point is, Winky, even if you feel lost and disgraced right now, you're definitely not alone. You have a friend of your own right here: Dobby. He brought you here to Hogwarts with him and got you both new jobs and a new much better master who cares about you. You may not realise it now but you're better off now than you ever were before. You just have to open your soul to it all." Winky's sobs had lessened, implying that she had heard but did not turn to face Maka as she gently patted the elf's head.

"Maka Albarn is wise and true." Dobby praised. "Maka Albarn's friend must be very lucky to have her." Maka smiled at Dobby thankfully.

"Just as Winky is lucky to have you as friend, Dobby. Show her just how great it is to be a free elf like you and sooner or later she'll be smiling."

"Dobby shall, Miss. Dobby won't give up on Winky." Dobby declared.

As they finished their tea, Dobby told them more about his new life in Hogwarts.

"Dobby is saving up to buy a jumper next, Harry Potter." He declared, pointing to his bare chest.

"I tell you what, Dobby." Ron suggested. "You can have the one my Mum always knits me every Christmas. I just hope you like maroon." A huge excited smile spread across Dobby's face.

"We'll probably have to shrink it to fit you though, but it'll go great with your tea cosy."

As the group prepared to leave, many of the house elves offered them snacks to take back with them. Maka, not wanting to come off as rude, accepted a couple though Hermione refused completely, discomforted by the bows and curtsies the elves kept making. Harry, Ron, Soul and Black Star on the other hand loaded up with as much as they could accept, the assassin stopping to ask the elves if they knew where to find the common room the DWMA was borrowing which they did.

"Thanks a lot." Harry thanked the elves as the group left the kitchen. "See you around, Dobby."

"Harry Potter...would it be alright if Dobby came to visit from time to time, Sir." the house elf asked hopefully.

"Of course." Harry agreed to which Dobby beamed as the elves waved goodbye.

"You know something." Ron mentioned. "After all these years of thinking Fred and George were sneaking food from the kitchen- now I see why it was so easy for them. The elves are literally giving snacks away!"

"I think Dobby coming to work here is the best thing that could happen to the elves." Hermione believed. "When they see how happy is being free and getting paid (though I still think he could have settled for more) they'll start wanting the same thing too."

"Let's just hope they don't take influence from Winky instead." Harry said concerned.

"Yeah, that elf really needs to lighten up." Soul agreed.

"And I'm sure she will." Said Hermione. "That was some profound advice you gave her, Maka."

"Thanks. The poor thing deserves to be happy, but it's up to her in the end." Maka replied.

XXX

The night was rolling in. The Great Hall was silent and the DWMA gang and the Gryffindor's were now standing before the Goblet of fire. A handful of the students from the other magic schools had put their names forth. Among them was beautiful girl from Beauxbatons by the name of Fleur Delacour had put her name in the goblet after being applauded by the others A tall strong looking man from Durmstrang named Victor Krum had also entered for the tournament (he was also a famous quidditch player, according to Ron who was a big fan of him).

Of course, many Hogwarts students put their names forward as well, including Cedric. Fred and George also attempted to enter by drinking an aging potion, but the goblet threw them out of the age line and also left the two wizards with grey hair and beards. This sent the onlookers into a fit of laughter and the twins into a fight.

Now it was the DWMA's turn. Maka and Soul went first, tossing their names into the flames of the goblet. A short applause swiftly followed, which they bowed to. Kid, Liz and Patty went next, though it took a while for them to get the paper ready cause Kid took at least 45 minutes to write his name. Crona and Ragnarok were third. The boy handed the paper to his weapon who then scrunched it into a ball and threw it in the goblet from a distance. This earned the two of them a slightly longer applause and even a couple of people cheered. Finally came Black Star and Tsubaki. The former came running down through the hall and then summersaulted through the air and slam-dunked their piece of paper into the goblet. This sent the crowd into a complete uproar, which Black Star of course bowed and cheered to, and most surprisingly of all to the rest of friends, three Hogwarts students actually asked him for autographs.

"Okay, it's settled. I am officially popular here. Maybe even more than I was at the DWMA."

"You weren't popular at all at the DWMA." Maka said slightly annoyed.

"I beg to differ. After we defeated Asura, all the new students kept asking me to hang out with them." Black Star replied, still smiling proudly.

"Whatever." Maka said.

"Well that's it. We're all in. I guess all we can do now is wait till the drawing." Soul said.

"Yeah." The others said as they continued to look at the goblet. The cloud of blue flames flickering and dancing in the air.

 **To be continued…**


End file.
